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THE WAY TO LIFE AND IMMORTALITY 

A TEXT-BOOK ON THE NEW LIFE THAT SHALL LEAD 
MAN FROM WEAKNESS, DISEASE, AND DEATH, TO FREEDOM 
FROM THESE THINGS. 

"there shall BE A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH." 







f rniplc oi Mlumwali 



By R» Swinburne Clymer 

COPYRIGHTED 1914 BY R. SWTNBURXE ClYMER. 

all rights reserved. 



PuhUshcd by 

The Philosophical Publishing Co., 

A-Uentown, Pa. 






MAR ~9 1914 



(0iCI.A371696 



THE VISION 

I lived in an age of strife. All around me were men 
oi ill-temper and ill-will. They fought one against the 
other, class against claGS. Even the children took part in 
the strife and knew no other life than the life of strife, 
'j hey were ill-shapen and miserable. There was no light 
shining from their eyes. 

The women were in the background, natural prey to 
the life of strife; for men had no love for each other. 
Kven in the midst of clans there was no love the one for 
the other, and they fought their supposed enemies not be- 
cause they loved their fellows more, but because they hated 
their enemies more bitterly. 

And out of the midst of the confusion came a Voice to 
me and bade me look. In the heavens as in a cloud of fire 
there appeared unto me a vision of two divinely perfect 
beings. Their bodies were glorious, and as of shining ivory 
which had life. Out of the eyes looked the Soul of Love. 
Male and female were they, perfect in soul and in body ; 
for the body showed perfect, and out of the eyes shone the 
perfect soul. 

And as I looked, behold, at their feet appeared chil- 
dren, as perfect as were the other two. It was a vision of 
Light and Fire, glorious and divine. 

But as I gazed, there appeared other full-grown men 
and v,"omen round about them; and in a circle round about 
them I saw other children and all of them were perfect. 
There was no mark of disease, no misery, no hate. All 
was perfection, there was happiness and love, strife had 
given way. As I gazed upon the glorious vision, a Voice 
spake unto me : 

"This is the ncv.- heaven and the new earth, the two 
become one. and I, thy God, shall be with thee." 
January Eight, 1914. 



Digitized by tine Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



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INTRODUCTORY 

The Philosophy, the Rchgion, the Science, outhned in 
the present work is that of Manhood — Manhood which is 
true, strong, virile, but which, strange as it may seem, is in 
entire harmony with the true conception of Godhood. 

In centuries past, up to the present time, mankind has 
been taught almost universally that, in order to gain the 
kingdom of heaven, it v.as necessary for him to deny the 
body, to crucify the flesh, in fact, practically to destroy 
the physical. It has been thought that by so doing he would 
be able to earn the heavenly reward, a place in the heaven 
of the Great Hereafter. This doctrine was thought to be 
the means of exalting the soul. 

Thus, a premium was placed on souls ; but a premium 
was also placed on weakness of body. Any doctrine, any 
science, any religion or philosophy, that regards the body 
as a hindrance, a burden, or even a snare to man, is sure 
to cause men to neglect physical welfare. 

But the new age has set in, a new cycle has begun. 
Men are no longer taught that the body must be debased 
and dishonored in order to exalt the soul and to glorify 
God. To be weak, and delicate in health, to be racked 
V. ith pain, to be a victim of disease, is no longer thought 
of as an indication of superior godliness. The teaching of 
the present age is that man glorifies God by freeing the 
body of disease and suffering, by making the body strong, 
by making it as nearly perfect as is possible to make it. 
T<\ perfecting body and soul, man does, in very truth, glori- 
fy God. 

But the thinker realize? that teaching of this nature 
through exaltation of the physical tends toward prolonging 



g The Way to Life and Immortality 

life on the earth, and that ultimately and eventually it will 
lead to physical immortality. He sees that perfection of 
body, freedom from weakness and disease, perfection in 
every detail, means an immortal body. The question then 
arises, Even if it is possible for man so to think and so to 
live as to build a perfect body, an immortal body, is it really 
desirable to do so ? Considering the conditions under which 
m.an lives at the present time, would Immortality on the 
earth be really advisable? 

Were answer given without due consideration^ it 
would naturally be in the negative. Under conditions as 
they are at the present time, it would not be desirable; for 
man would not want to live forever where sickness, suffer- 
ing, sorrow, crime, and vice prevail. But we must remem- 
ber that as the new age progresses undesirable conditions 
will pass away. 

This is not a modern dream, but was clearly foretold 
ages ago. The ideal state that results from immortality of 
body and soul v/as the theme of the writer of Revelatiojis. 

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for 

the first heaven and the first earth were passed 

away; and there was no more sea. 

"And I, John, saw the holy city. New Jerusalem, 

coming dov^n out of heaven, prepared as a bride 

adorned for her husband. 

"And I heard a great voice out of heaven crying. 

Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he 

will dvv'ell v/ith them, and they shall be his people, 

and God himself shall be with them, and be their 

God." Rev. 21 :l-3. 

How many of the vast multitudes who have read these 
words have had an inkling of an idea of their real signifi- 
cance? These words of the inspired writer mean exactly 
what they say; yet how many have thought it possible for 
heaven to pass away? The fact is, little thought has been 
given to this statement, and men generally have taken it 
for granted that heaven — that is, the place where souls 



The Way to Life and Immortality 9 

h.'ivc gone after death, up to the ])resent time — shoulcl con- 
tinue to exist forever. lUit John, the greatest of Revela- 
tors, clearly states that he saw "the first heaven passed 
away." 

That which is usually called heaven is the state where- 
in are the souls of those who have passed to the Beyond. 
It is a state of existence merely, or a plane of being. By 
Soul Science, it is called the Soul World, or the Soul 
Realm. It is simply a plane of being to which souls go, 
and in v.hich they remain temporarily, until they are en- 
abled to return to the earth in order to continue their pil- 
grimage toward perfection. 

To use a homely, but practical, comparison, the Soul 
World, heaven so-called, is nothing more nor less than a 
"clearing liouse." A clearing house is a center in which 
judgment is passed on checks, drafts, and accounts to de- 
termine whether they are valid and v/orthy of exchange. 
Somewhat similar to this, all souls, on leaving the body, 
pass to th.e soul world, there to await the time when they 
shall be permitted again to take up the earth pilgrimage 
in order to free themselves from imperfection. This round 
of pilgrimages on the earth alternating with temporary so- 
journs in the soul realm continues until the soul is finally 
free from all imperfection. When the soul shall have at- 
tained Conscious Sonship w'ith God and shall have laid 
aside all carnality and shall have put on immortality of 
body and soul, it has no further need of the soul realm. 

All souls are given the same opportunity. They are 
equally endowed by their Creator with the pov/ers and the 
faculties of the Infinite. Although these powers and facul- 
ties are in the beginning potential only, and must be de- 
veloped in order to be of avail to man in attaining per- 
fection, nevertheless, they are capable of dcvelopnient to 
such degree that man may indeed attain Godhood and Con- 
scious Immortality in the flesh. Having attained perfec- 
tion through repeated incarnations, he shall no longer be 



15 l^HE Way to Life and tMMORi'ALifY 

in need of the soul realm as a "clearing ihouse" through 
which to pass in order to be tested in regard to the use he 
has been making of the Infinite possibilities with which he 
is endowed. 

Even though all souls are given the same opportunity 
and are endowed with divine powers, nevertheless, no Law 
in heaven or on earth can force men to use their powers 'in 
the attainment of perfection. They are given free-will and 
freedom of choice, and are at liberty to unfold, or to 
neglect, the Divinity within themselves. He who has per- 
sistently neglected the Divine Image in which he is created, 
he vv-ho has persistently and deliberately and wilfully lived 
in ignorance and error and sin through repeated oppor- 
tunities on the earth plane, will eventually forfeit the right 
to Individual Perfection and Individual Immortality. In 
otlier words, through repeated failure to comply with the 
necessary conditions of perfection, it is impossible for him 
to attain perfection because the nucleus of divine powers 
within, through neglect, will still remain in a state of dor- 
mancy. In the event of ultimate failure to comply with 
the terms of Individual Perfection, the Spark of Divinity 
within, the soul atom, unawakened to activity, returns in 
its original condition at the death of the body to the uni- 
versal storehouse of the Infinite. Yet greatly in the minor- 
ity are those v/ho neglect or wilfully disregard the Divine 
Law of Life to such degree that Individual Perfection and 
Individual Godhood are impossible. 

Gradually, though to be sure slowly, individual souls 
are reaching perfection. What then? In so far as the 
individual soul is concerned, there is no further need of 
the soul world. 

Gradually, though to be sure slowly, all souls that are 
on the way to perfection will ultimately reach perfection. 
What then? In so far as these souls are concerned, there 
is no further need of the soul world. 
^ .. That for which there is no further use passes away, 



The Way to Life and Immortality 11 

Thus, ultimately, the present soul world, "the first heaven," 
will cease to exist. 

It is this heaven which John in his prophetic vision 
declares "was passed away." He foresaw the time when 
the present heaven to which souls go for a time would no 
longer he necessary, and, consequently, would no longer 
exist. 

But what in regard to the earth which he saw "was 
passed away"? 

As with the first heaven, so with the first earth. As 
men hecome perfect, so will the world and all its condi- 
tions become perfect. "The first earth" will have become 
"a new earth" and heaven and earth shall be one. 

But says the critic, Can it be that this earth with its 
loathsome creeping and crawling things, with its dens of 
ferocious animals, with its poisonous plants and herbs, 
with its vipers and insects of deadly bite and sting; this 
earth with its violent climatic and atmospheric changes, its 
dread states of turmoil and strife on land and on sea among 
natural forces and elements, with its horrors and its de- 
vastations through fire, water, and wind, with its quakes 
and its shocks and its volcanic spasms ; this earth with its 
suffering humanity, its injustice, its dens of vice and tor- 
ture, childhood pinched with cold and starvation, mother- 
hood and womanhood crushed and dishonored and bartered, 
manhood broken and wrecked through dissipation — can it 
be that this earth is to become a haven for blissful souls, a 
heaven, an eternal abiding place for the redeemed and the 
perfect and for those who have attained the Divine Con- 
sciousness ? 

No, earth as it is, can not be the home of pcr£ect souls. 
Earth as it is would not be an ideal place for the redeemed 
of God. Earth as it is would be the veriest hell, a place of 
torture, for the purified and the cleansed soul. 

But earth as it is, is to pass away. This is the vision 
pf John, the Revelator, "the first earth was passed away," 



12 tiiE Way to Life and Immortality 

and "a new earth" has taken its place. 

According as souls on the earth become perfect, in that 
very degree does the earth as it is, change into the earth as 
it is to be; in that very degree does "the first earth" pass 
away and "a new earth'' take its place. This is the vision 
of "a. new earth" as the result of perfection of soul. Nor 
must it be thought of as merely "an interesting coinci- 
dence" that perfection of soul and the passing avv^ay of the 
first earth occur simultaneously. It is primarily and funda- 
mentally a matter of cause and effect- Perfection of soul 
is the cause, "a neiv earth'' is the effect. No, earth cahi 
not be heaven, earth can not be a suitable home for perfect 
souls, so long as present conditions continue to exist. But 
equally true is it that present conditions can change for 
the better only in proportion as souls become perfect. 
Equally true is it that perfection of soul must become the 
active cause and the conscious creator of environments 
suited to the state of perfection. 

It is not so difficult to understand that with the pro- 
gress of soul development economic conditions must im- 
prove, and human relationships in every department of 
life must become more desirable. That perfecting of souls 
on the earth manifests itself in improvement of humani- 
tarian concerns and in betterment of conditions on the so- 
cial, industrial, educational, and governmental planes, is a 
truth already established in the race consciousness. 

But that development and perfection of souls on earth 
has any effect upon the creatures of the earth below man or 
upon atmospheric and climatic and chemic and other con- 
ditions to v/hich man is subject — this thought has meagre 
claim in the race consciousness. This is the truth that 
awaits the recognition of man. This is a part of the pro- 
phetic vision of "a new heaven and a new earth." That 
mankind has been given "dominion" over creation below 
him., and that it is his right and his privilege to "subdue 
the earth/' or to exercise his superior creative power in im- 



The ^^'A7 TO Life axd Immortality 13 

proving the earth — this truth must become clearly out- 
lined in the race consciousness before there can be "a new 
heaven and a new earth." That the passions and the 
thoughts and the emotions and the ideals of mankind af- 
fect the earth and determine its condition as a dwelling; 
place for men is a truth of which the Author of these pages 
is fully convinced, a truth that is to characterize the teach- 
ings of the new age. It is a truth that lies at the basis of 
any rational conception of Imm.ortality. 

What is the meaning of the Law expressed by Hermes, 
the Thrice \\'ise : "As above, so belovv " ? 

As above on the hum.an plane, so below on the phys- 
ical plane, both vegetable and animal. "As a man thinketh 
in his heart, so is he." Equally true is it, 'as a man think- 
eth in his heart, so are the animal world and the vegetable 
kingdom around him.' For every evil passion, for every 
evil desire in the heart of man, there is also some evil or 
unfortunate manifestation in the external world. What 
njan breathes out, animal and vegetable life breathes in 
and lives upon. Through the exhalations of his thoughts 
and his passions, man furnishes food and nourishment for 
the kingdoms below him, both vegetable and animal. The 
breath of man is loaded with the vitality of his thought 
creations. If his thoughts are noble, pure and worthy, the 
emanations exhaled through his breath, being wholesome and 
vitalizing, feed and support the life of beautiful, valuable 
creations, as, flowers, herbs, birds, fowls, and animals, of 
superior order and of beneficent character. If his thoughts 
and passions are destructive and ignoble, charged with ill- 
will toward others, the emanations exhaled through his 
breath are loaded with poisons, and sustain on the planes 
below him life_of an inferior order or even life of a de-t 
structive and vicious nature. Thus is it a literalj fact "as 
above, so below." As in the world of human thought and 
feeling, so is it in the world of manifestation below the 
human. As is the status of the soul, so is life on the 



14 The Way to Life And Immortality" 

plane below, which feeds upon the exhalations of the 
bodies and the souls of men. 

These statements explain how it is a literal fact that 
man has dominion over the plan'ss below him, that he is 
in very truth the creator and the nourisher of kingdoms 
beneath. Neither a myth nor a fancy is it that develop- 
ment of soul on the human plane is both the cause and 
the creator of "a new heaven and a new earth." In pro- 
portion as man's thoughts and passions are exalted and 
pure, in that proportion are "the first heaven and the first 
earth passed away,'' in that proportion is there "a new 
heaven and a nev^^ earth." This fact throws new light on 
the mission of mankind. Not only creator of his own des- 
tiny is he, not only his "brother's keeper" is he, but also 
in a very remarkable manner is he Lord of creation and 
Master of both heaven and earth. In a very remarkable 
manner is he, through thought and desire and emotion and 
ideal, responsible for external conditions on the earth on 
v/hich he lives. Through perfection of soul is he respon- 
sible for realizing the Divine Purpose, by ushering in "the 
new heaven and the new earth." 

Undesirable conditions on the earth in its physical 
features as well as in its economic, industrial, and social 
features are due to the heavy, depressed, poisonous at- 
mosphere emanating from man's thought world. Disasters 
which result in loss of many lives ; devastations and rav- 
ages by storm, flood, fire, and wind; violent wreckage of 
life through pestilence, drought, and famine, and other dire 
calamities, unaccountable from physical causes merely, are 
recognized by the Seer as being due to an excessive accu- 
mulation of poisonous vibrations from the realm of hu- 
man thought and feeling. If a fit of anger in the mother is 
powerful enough to poison the infant at her breast, and 
cause its death, how much more pov/er for harm and for 
disaster must there be in the accumulated poison of count- 
less numbers of malicious and perverted lives? 



The Way to Life amd Immortality 15 

Argument is not needed to -prove that mental states 
of an individual affect his physical condition. The effect 
of sudden fright, of sad news, of prolonged uncertainty 
and anxiety, of extreme violence of temper, of intense 
fear, and of oth^r disturbed mental states, is fully recog- 
nized in ordinary experience. The skilful reasoning of a 
scientist or a psychologist is not needed to convince m.an 
of the plausibility of the statem.ent that mental conditions 
affect the physical being. If mental states are visibly effec- 
tive in one individual case, how much more effective must 
be the collective mental states of a multitude of people? 
It is claimed by scientific investigation that all destructive 
passions, as, fear, anger, ill-will, malice, hate, melancholy, 
depression of spirit, form vibrations of heavy, stolid, slug- 
gish character, charged with poisonous elements and ex- 
plosive substances. As a thunder cloud meeting another 
storm cloud results in an outburst of forces, liberating the 
poisonous substances of each, so the collective cross-cur- 
rents of thought and feeling emanating from many lives 
result in disasters and calamities, which are too otfen 
meekly accepted as "strange but unaccountable ministra- 
tions of providence." 

On the other hand, if there is such power for harm 
in destructive and evil mental states, how much power for 
good must there be in constructive and righteous mental 
states? Through the collective power of goodness and 
love and forgiveness and justice emanating from the lives 
of the many v/ill conditions so change as to make it a 
desirable habitation for godly souls. The change will be 
gradual and slow, but eventually and ultimately it will 
come. The change is now taking place. "The first earth" 
is even now in process of "passing av/ay.'' "The new 
earth" is even now in process of construction. To the 
Seer of the present age as to the Inspired Revelator of a 
former age, has been granted the prophetic vision of "the 
first earth" with its carnality and its distresses and its 



16 The Way to Life and Immortality 

wreckages '"passed away." The Seer of the present day 
is so fully convinced of the Infinite Power of Goodness 
operating through Illumined Souls that he clearly sees 
the earth and its conditions become a fit dwelling place 
for "the redeemed of the Lord to walk thereon." So 
fully convinced is he that he is willing to give his life to 
the promulgation of the truth that leads to such regenera- 
tion. 

The Philosophy of Analogy reveals a correspondence 
or a resemblance or a subtle kinship between life in the 
vegetable and the animal kingdoms and human traits and 
human characteristics. To illustrate: The serpent has 
always been considered an emblem of temptation and de- 
ception and traitorous tendencies; the dove, an emblem 
of peace and good-will; the lamb, an emblem of innocence 
and gentleness; the lily, an emblem of purity and sinless- 
ness; the rose, an emblem of perfection. 

Are these emblems merely "a happy coincidence?" 
Are they nothing more than observations which please and 
gratify the poetic and esthetic nature of man? Or is 
there a fundamental reason, a necessary cause, v/hich 
makes them not only apt but even vitally and universally 
significant ? 

The correctness and the fitness of an analogy is testi- 
fied to in the fact that it is accepted naturally and spon- 
taneously by mankind in general. To point out an analogy 
or an lemblem is not the result of deep mental study or of 
close mental reasoning. It is the result of soulful vision, 
and clear insight info fundamental truth. If the associa- 
tion of qualities indicated by an emblem is true and ac- 
curate, the race consciousness accepts it spontaneously and 
naturally, and forgets to ask why. 

But the seeker after truth must know why. In time 
he discovers that there is a fundamental reason for the 
aptness of all analogy. To illustrate. The snake is an 
emblem of treachery and deceit, When the heart of man 



The Way to Life and Immortality 17 

is filled with treacherous and deceitful and traitorous 
thoughts and desires and motives, the exhalations of his 
breath are loaded with the particular poison that deceptive 
tlioughts and purposes produce. This outbreathed poison 
becomes the life and the sustaining force of the animal 
creation that corresponds to this type of thought. The 
deadly snake and poisonous viper are sustained and 
nourished by the destructive exhalations of perverted 
minds and darkened souls of men. When men cease to 
have in their hearts the particular passions that the ser- 
pent represents and feeds upon, the serpent will cease to 
exist ; or, at least, the serpent will cease to exist as a 
creature that is loathed and abhorred almost universally 
by mankind. When man has overcome in his own nature 
the elements that the serpent represents, he ceases to have 
a marked abhorrence of the serpent; for there is nothing 
in his nature that corresponds to it. As an individual he 
does not furnish it life and nourishment Though it exists, it 
does not exist as a terror for him. In proportion as the 
race evolves unto perfection of body, mind, and soul, in 
that degree will the serpent and deadly vipers and all 
loathsome creeping, crawling creatures cease to exist as 
such. If they continue to exist it will be as transfigured 
creatures, emblems fittingly representative of the graces 
and the virtues that have supplanted the destructive and 
the deadly passions that previously existed in the hearts 
of men. 

Thus with all creatures on the animal plane. When 
the thoughts of men are universally transmuted, when 
men universally entertain in their hearts only the divine 
passions of love, forgiveness, good-will, and other holy 
emotions, instead of the destructive and deadly passions 
of hate, malice, jealousy, envy, ill-will, and other passions 
in the category of carnality — -then will all undesirable crea- 
tures on the animal plane cease to exist. 

But, just as the evil thoughts of men are the elements 



18 The Way to Life and Immortalitx 

whereby undesirable creatures are kept alive, and where- 
from they live, so do beautiful, creative, constructive 
thoughts of men give life and nourishment to beautiful 
creatures on the earth. By universal race consent, the 
beautiful, delicate, refined flower typifies purity and beauty 
of character. But the Illumined Soul knows that it typi- 
fies purity and beauty of character because it feeds upon 
and is supported by the emanations of beautiful, refined 
sotds. The rose has ever been the symbol of the true life, 
the perfect life; symbol of Illumination of Soul, cons'e- 
quently, symbol of Godhood individualized in man. For 
this reason has the rose been accepted as the emblem of 
those who aim at perfection of soul, and for this reason 
also is the rose a constant incentive to man to strive after 
the true, the perfect, the beautiful life. 

In proportion as the race is retieemed and regenerated 
in life on all planes, in that proportion will the earth 
abound in beautiful flowers, luscious fruits, and exquisite 
flying creatures. As men free their hearts of 
destructive passions, deadly creatures and poisonous 
plants will disappear from the earth; and in their 
stead will come flowers and creatures which are infinitely 
more beautiful than man in his present state of unfold- 
ment can in his imagination conceive. Thus, in time, the 
earth will become one beautiful Garden, a very Garden of 
Eden; and the men and the women thereon will be gods 
and goddesses, redeemed and perfected souls — per- 
fected so far as our present standards are capable of con- 
ceiving, but still evolving new measurements and new 
standards of perfection, and still striving after and approx- 
imating ideals of perfection which surpass the highest 
measurement of which man is capable at the present time. 

Thus is it that man is Lord of all creation. Thus is 
man to "subdue the earth." Not m^erely by taming the 
fierce and the vicious is he to have dominion over the ani- 
mal kingdom ; not merely by destroying the ferocious or by 



The Way to Life and Immortality 19 

domesticating the wild ; not merely by improving species, 
nor by compelling animal strength to do his will and to 
bear his burdens ; but by^ living such a holy and sinless life 
that the emanations of his character act as a redeeming 
and a regenerating potency in the creation over zvhich he 
has been made Lord and Master. Not merely by harness- 
ing Nature's forces and bidding them to obey his commands 
is he to subdue the earth ; not merely by mastering the 
laws to which wind, water, fire, electricity, magnetism, 
and other natural forces and elements are subject so as to 
turn their power into channels that serve his purpose; not 
merely by perfecting flower, plant, and fruit, nor by learn- 
ing new uses to which they may be put in the economy of 
human interests — bvJ by living such a holy and sinless 
life that the vibrations of Jiis soul serve as a harmonizing 
and redeeming and controlVmg influence over natural forces 
and elements, and as a means zvhereby he is enabled to. 
employ them for constructive purposes, and the radiations 
fo/ his character give life and nourishment only to that> 
which is beneficial and useful. 

The building of "a new heaven and a r^ew earth" is 
the work of redemption. The work of full and complete 
redemption does not stop with the salvation of humanity. 
lo be sure, perfection of soul is the goal and the ideal 
aimed at. Yet, if man sees no farther than, individual per- 
fection of soul as an ideal, his aim is sadly deficient and 
largely selfish. Perfection of soul is the ideal aimed at 
and the standard placed before humanity for the sake of 
the inevitable results and effects of perfection of soul 
upon creation as a zvkole, and upon the earth as a habita- 
tion for souls, over which by divine decree man has been 
made Lord and Master and Redeemer. To aim at indi- 
vidual perfection of soul for its own sake as an individual 
attainment, though in itself infinitely desirable, falls far 
short of the heritage granted to man by divine right in 
that through perfection of soul he is to subdue the earth 



20 The Way to Life and Immortalitx 

and to hold dominion over the creatures thereof. 

The work of universal redemption and universal re- 
generation is a slow and a gradual work. But none the 
less sure is it. Gradually men are beginning to under- 
stand the Law that must be obeyed in order to bring about 
universal redemption. Gradually is there an increase in 
numbers of those who are striving to live in harmony with 
the fundamental laws of life. In general, the world is 
becoming better. And as mankind improves in its life and 
character, so will the earth become more and more suit- 
able and desirable as the home of Illumined Souls, un,til 
finally all things will have become regenerated. Then will 
there be a new heaven and a new earth. Then the first 
heaven and the first earth will have passed away. 

At the present time there are two planes of existence. 
There is the earth whereon man rules, largely through evil 
and destructive methods. There is the soul plane, "the 
first heaven," wherein imperfect souls abide the oppor- 
tunity of a return to earth conditions. But, in th« coming 
age, the two shall be one. And God will come out of the 
first heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 
And, behold, the voice of the Great Over-Soul shall say : 

"God is with men. He dwells with them. They are 
His people. God Himself is with them and is their God; 
for He has left the first heaven and has come to earth 
to be among men. He has become individualized in men. 
And men have become individualizations of Godhood on 
the earth." 

"This is the new heaven and the new earth" which 
the Illuminati are teaching men to bring about. They 
are teaching that strength and perfection for both body 
and soul is the goal toward which men should strive. They 
are teaching that the nevv^ heaven and the new earth as 
foretold by the messengers of God can not come until men 
obey the Divine Law and live a life that is an honor to 
.God, their Creator. They are teaching that to be sickly in 



The Way to Life and Immortality ^1 

body and weak, and to be carnally-minded, is not an honor 
to God. They advocate that perfection of body and per- 
fection of soul are supplements each of the other, and 
necessary each to the other. 

By no means desirable is it for man to be compelled 
to live forever on the earth as it is at the present time ; 
but heartily desirable will it be when the world has be- 
come regenerated through the regeneration of mankind. 

Let it be remembered, nevertheless, that Perfection 
and Regeneration and Salvation and Redemption are ever 
increasing variables, and that man's conception and stand- 
ard and measurement of Perfection is an ever increasing 
variable. The doctrine of full and complete Redemption 
or Regeneration, the doctrine of Perfection, by no means 
holds as its ideal a state of bliss that is weak and inert 
through sheer self-satisfaction or through cessation of 
growth and activity. Fields of endeavor, realms of achieve- 
ment, worlds of opportunity for creative power and skill, 
undreamed of by the most enlivened imagination, await 
man in the Age of Realization that ushers in "a new heav- 
en and a new earth." 

May each one who reads and ponders these pages 
strive to find the Way that leads to Life, Light, Love, and 
Complete Immortality. 

Fraternally, 

The Author. 
"Beverly." 
December Twenty-seven, 1913, 



22 The Way to Life and iMMORtALiTY 



CHAPTER ONE 

"heal the sick-'' 

Jesus, whom Soul Scientists and the Illuminati recog- 
nize as a Master and as one of the foremost teachers of 
the Divine Law, gave many admonitions to those who 
would follow the "Way, the Truth, and the Life" ; but no 
admonition stands out more clearly than the command to 
hea'l the sick. In the Gospel of St. Luke are many refer- 
ences to the healing of the sick. The most direct and 
p(jsitive statement given as a command is found in verse 
nine of chapter ten. 

"And heali the sick that are therein, and say unto 
them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you." 

Why should the command, "Heal the sick," be accom- 
panied by the statement that those who are healed shall 
be told that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto them? 

The reason for this is to be found in the fact that 
there is a close connection between health and the king- 
dom of God, a close connection between disease and the 
kingdom of error and sin. All illness is due to vicVlation 
of the laws of health — that is, to some form of sin and 
error. It may be unconscious sin and error, but it is none 
the less sin and error. The man or the woman that breaks 
nature's laws in respect to any one of those things which 
cause illness, is committing a sin, or violating a law of 
health. It is to be readily admitted that disease of body 
cind mind is more often due to ignorance than to deliberate 
wrong doing, ignorance regarding conditions of health, 
Kevertheless, the principle remains true that error in re- 
^;ird to the laws of health results in illness and sufferings, 



24 The Way to Life And Immortality 

that obedience to the laws of health results in ease and 
harmony. 

The fact that there is a vital connection between 
health and the kingdom of heaven has been overlooked by 
churches and religious denominations. The church has 
lost its hold upon humanity largely because it has ceased 
to make healing of the body a prominent part of its mis- 
sion. The Temple of lUuminati proposes to reestablish 
this important feature of religious instruction. One pur- 
pose of the Temple of Illuminati is to instruct and to 
train its members in respect to natural law as it pertains 
to physical and mental health, strength, and vigor. This 
it considers to be a necessary feature of the Way to Life 
and Immortality, Under this instruction and training, the 
members should not only themselves regain health and 
strength if lost, but should be qualified to help others in 
restoring conditions of health, strength, and vitality. 

This doctrine, that physical health and vigor are nat- 
ural manifestations of the kingdom of heaven in human 
experience, and that disease and suffering are manifesta- 
tions of the kingdom of error and darkness, is founded 
upon the Sacred Scriptures. Basis for this doctrine is 
seen also in the ancient philosophies. It is by no means 
necessary to use the Bible as authority. However, men 
generally recognize the teachings of prophets and aposties 
recorded in the Bible as the foundation upon which all 
true doctrines rest. There are some, indeed, who con- 
sider themselves superior to the instructions of the Scrip- 
tures, and who claim no longer to need the Bible; but this 
very self-deluded superiority shows that they have not yet 
reached the first steps on the ladder of true Wisdom. All 
men who have reached Illumination of Soul recognize that 
the Bible contains the Alpha and Omega of all knowl- 
edge, and that therein is clearly indicated the Way to Life 
and Immortality. Therefore, the teachings of the Scrip- 
tures are accepted by the Illuminati as the basis of their 



The Way to Life and Immortality 25 

histruction5 ; yet it is freely admitted that the sacred writ- 
ings of other than the so-called Christian religion preserve 
kindred doctrinists. 

Followers of the Illuminati claim that all illness, no 
matter what its nature, is caused directly through not liv- 
ing in harmony with the Law of God. The Law has two 
aspects, natural and divine. The Law of God, often desig- 
nated as "the Law," or "the Divine LaAV," is both natural 
and divine, but is often spoken of as one or the other, 
owing to the prominence of the aspect considered. In 
general, natural law refers to conditions on the physical and 
the material plane, and pertains to the physical well-being 
of man; while divine law, generally considered, refers to 
conditions which affect the welfare of the soul, and per- 
tains to the spiritual, mental, and divine nature of man. 
There is, however, no sharp distinction to be made be- 
tv.^een the two. The welfare of man's spiritual, mental, 
and divine nature depends upon his physical well-being as 
a necessary basis. The divine law rests upon the natural 
law as a foundation. Each is necessary to the other. In 
fact, it is the same law viewed from different angles. 

Thus, let it be clearly understood in the beginning as 
basic propositions of the Illuminati ; first, the state of con- 
sciousness designated as "the kingdom of heaven" includes 
right living (righteousness), or correct habits of life, on 
the physical plane as well as on the spiritual, or divine, 
plane of thought; second, any consideration of the Way 
to Life and Immortality that ignores the physical well- 
being of man is not only incomplete but even irrational and 
illogical ; third, the command to heal the sick, in face of 
the vital connection between health and the kingdom of 
heaven, between illness and the kingdom of sin and error, 
makes it imperative upon the Temple of Illuminati to give 
instruction and training concerning the laws of health and 
concerning a rational basis and method of healing. 

It is the verdict of physicians that illness is most fre- 



26 The Way to Life and iMMdftTAtix? 

quently caused by an erroneous system of living, or by 
incorrect habits of life ; indeed, to give more explicit state- 
ment, illness is most frequently caused by an erroneous 
system of eating. 

Time was, when it would have been considered ab- 
surd for a teacher, a prophet, a Messiah, to speak of diet- 
etics in connection with Life and Immortality; but that 
time is past. Now, all wise men, ail truly illuminated 
ones, know that those things which enter the body as 
food and drink have much to do with the welfare of mind 
and soul as well as body. The thoughtful person, ithe 
person of keen ambition, no longer considers it absurd or 
irrational to associate hygienic conditions and scientific 
dietetics with the Way to Life and Immortality. 

Food and drink are to the body what oil is to machin- 
ery. A delicate piece of machinery may be thrown out of 
order and rendered useless by being lubricated with a poor 
grade of oil. And not until it has been cleaned and reoiled 
and its equilibrium has been reestablished, can the machine 
satisfactorily serve the purpose for which it was intended. 
I ikewise, man's organism may be thrown into a state of 
disorder and inharmony by taking into his system foods 
or drinks not suited to his needs. 

The stomach is the center of motive power for the 
organism. And, if the part of the organism wherein mo- 
tive power originates is thrown into a state of inharmony 
and turmoil, the inharmony is transmitted to the brain 
through the medium of the sympathetic nerve, and this 
causes unnatural and morbid thinking. Unnatural and mor- 
bid thought conditions, in turn, cause sluggish, ambitionless 
movements of body. This state of affairs accounts for in- 
efficient workmen and artisans ; and, in exaggerated form, 
it may even account for criminal tendencies and for feeble- 
mindedness. Furthermore, sluggish, burdened, and de- 
pressed condition of physical functions largely explains 
the prevalent indifference among mankind to the Laws o| 



The Way to Uife and Immortalitv, 27 

Life and Immortality. 

It is equally important for man to understand natural 
law as to understand divine law, or spiritual law. Man is 
well called a prototype of the universe; and, as such, he 
needs to understand the mechanism of his own structure 
and the laws of its functions, that he may abide by the 
dictates of universal law and order. 

The church of the past has been teaching that souls 
only are of value, and that the soul can be made immortal, 
cr reach Salvation, regardless of physical conditions. Sal- 
vation of soul independent of the body is a doctrine not 
sanctioned by the Illuminati. Salvation by faith inde- 
pendent of works is not sanctioned by the Illuminati. That 
faith must be accompanied by works in harmony with the 
faith professed, that full and perfect salvation of soul is 
impossible without a corresponding purification of body, are 
definite tenets of Soul Science and the Illuminati. There 
is every evidence that the Master Jesus associated salva- 
tion of soul with healing of body, and that he identified 
full and perfect salvation with bodily immortality, and, 
ultimately, with victory over death. 

Possibly the strongest statement that Jesus ever made 
concerning life and immortality is this : 

"Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. 
Believest thou this?" 

Not only did Jesus teach that man may be healthy and 
happy, but that, if he is willing to live and to believe in 
the Christ, he may live forever. 

Science is daily proving the possibility of bodily im- 
mortality. It is a scientific fact that the physical body of 
man remakes itself entirely, cell by cell, within a period of 
nine months. The only reason why the body should see 
corruption is because man does not live in such a manner 
that every cell in the body renews itself. Some of the old 
cells remain. This, in time, causes old age; or, it may even 
j:i>use illness of the physical being-, which naturally results 



2S The Way to Life aistd iMMORtALiTY 

in illness or weakness of the mental and the soulual beinof. 
Scientific research admits that there is no plausible reason 
why the body of man should die. 

,What then should be the remedy for the decrepitude 
of old age and for other impaired physical conditions? 

Let the motto of Soul Science and of the Illuminati 
be the answer to this question: "Our God is the God of 
life, and not of death." 

Let the Law as stated by St. John be the answer to 
the question : "Whosoever liveth and believeth in the Christ 
shall not die." 

To live in the Christ precedes and accompanies true 
belief in the Christ. Belief in the Christ is the natural 
outgrowth of living in Llim. Jesus nowhere taught that mere 
belief in the Christ will suffice. He distinctly taught that, 
in order to attain Christhood, man must live as Jesus lived — 
that is, in harmony with natural and divine law. Only 
through right living can man rightly believe. Many claim 
to have faith in God, who do not live in accordance with 
the Law of God; but a faith that does not exemplify the 
Law is, at best, nothing more than a superficial faith. It 
is a self-deluded belief, v/hich is swept away at the first in- 
dication of sorrow or trouble. To weep and to bewail 
one's fate, to wonder why man should suffer when, as he 
believes, he trusts in the Lord — this very attitude of mind 
gives evidence of lack of faith. True faith in God, and 
living in harmony with natural and divine law are neces- 
sary supplements and companions, each of the other. 

All science and philosophy support the assertion that 
it is impossible for a disordered mind resulting from a dis- 
ordered body to have natural, simple, perfect faith and 
trust in the Father. It is indeed impossible for the mind 
to think correctly and to have clear vision when it is de- 
pressed and morbid because of physical disorder and slug- 
gishness. On the other hand, when man lives in harmony 
with natural and divine law, when he observes hygienic con- 



The Way to Life and Immortality 29 

dilions and honors the principles of right living on the ma- 
terial plane as well as on the mental and the divine planes, 
it is natural for him to have a wholesome sincere trust in 
God, the Father of all. The mind receives none other than 
cheerful, health-inspiring vibrations from the physical cen- 
ter of life in man; and, it is then easy to believe that there 
is a God. It is easy to see the beauty in the rose, the har- 
mony in the song of the bird, and in the glorification of 
God in nature. All is bright, the eye sees the good, and 
man is become like unto the gods. 

That physical health, strength, and vigor characterize 
him in whom "the kingdom of heaven is nigh at hand," that 
disease and disorder characterize him in v^^hom the kingdom 
of sin and error is nigh at hand, are truths which both 
science and philosophy support. Belief and trust will take 
tare of themselves v/hen man lives in harmony with both 
natural and divine law. 

The Law of God pertains to life, and has to do with 
all those things which form a part of daily living. And it 
is well for man to give careful attention to natural law as 
well as divine. No one should consider himself too wise, 
loo far advanced, too refined to acquaint himself with re- 
quirements of right living on the physical plane. This in- 
cludes sleep, work, exercise, breathing, recreation, cleanli- 
ness, food, and correct thought habits. It is not uncommon 
for the student who has reached a certain stage of unfold- 
ment to consider conditions wdiich pertain to physical wel- 
fare of inferior significance; and he is inclined to under- 
estimate the importance of the so-called commonplaces of 
daily life. It should be remembered that the Bible is as 
much a text-book on hygiene, sanitation, and dietetics as 
it is a treatise on ethics, salvation, and immortality, and 
that hygiene, sanitation, and dietetics have a vital connec- 
tion with salvation and immortality of body and soul. The 
fact that these relations are a part of the life of man shows 
that they are important enough to enlist his interest; and, 



30 The Way to Life and Immortality 

if man desires to attain health and peace, v/isdom and im- 
mortahty, he must, sooner or later, give heed to natural 
law on the ph3'sical plane. 

The superficial student may smile at the emphasis 
placed on the importance of natural law and hygienic con- 
ditions; but, if sincere, he need not look far for ample 
proof of their importance. The fact that obedience to nat- 
ural law is necessary, and that strict observance of condi- 
tions which pertain to sleep, work, exercise, food, breath- 
ing, recreation, and cleanliness is a necessary factor of 
satisfactory living, is not to be overlooked by the sincere 
seeker after truth. 

Furthermore, such items as these are emphasized in 
this connection because they are necessary features of any 
legitimate system of healing. Concerning the command, 
"Heal the sick," it is to be remembered that, as illness is 
due to violation of natural law in one or more of its as- 
pects, so rational healing must aim at restoring the patient 
to a normal observance of the conditions violated. That 
is, if illness is due to a wrong system of eating, or to vio- 
lation of the laws of sleep and relaxation, or to lack of 
exercise, or to indifference to internal and external clean- 
liness, or to an insufficient supply of pure air, or to a com- 
bination of such indiscretions, restoration to complete 
health and harmony of physical functions must include a 
system of right living in respect to these habits of life. 

To live in the Christ, and to believe in Him, insures that 
man is on the Way to Life and Immortality. To live in 
the Christ, and to believe, includes obedience to natural law 
in its different requirements, as, obedience to the laws of 
health in respect to sleep, nourishment, cleanliness, work, 
and pure air. 

As an illustration of the results of not living in har- 
mony with natural law in its various demands, note that 
serious, but mysterious trouble called Neurasthenia, or 
,1'Nerve Starvation. In most cases, there is apparently not a 



The Way to Life and Immortality 31 

single indication of anything wrong in the physical being, 
there is no organic trouble, every organ and function seems 
to be working normally. The physical being, to all appear- 
ances, is working naturally and harmoniously. 

But how is it with the mind and with the soul of the 
sufferer? Upon examination of the nervous system as 
manifest through mind and soul, is found a condition un- 
believable to those who have not so suffered. To those who 
arc under the power of the peculiar difficulty called Neu- 
rasthenia, there is no sleep; or, if any, it is one horrible 
dream. There is no peace of mind ; for one morbid thought 
crowds out another, one morbid thought is followed by an- 
other. Though the sufferer tries to control the mind, it 
seems uncontrollable. The eyes cannot be closed ; for 
when they are closed, there appears picture after picture of 
such things as were never thought of. He may look at the 
rose, but he sees no beauty in it. He may look at the sun; 
but, to him, it has no brightness. He may look at the ves- 
ture of the fields and the woods. It is useless, for they 
have for him no charm. He may contemplate life, only to 
see nothing in it. The Neurasthenic cares for neither Iqve 
nor beauty, neither life nor death. He knows not why he 
exists. Speak to him of the soul, he cares not whether he 
has one. Speak to him of heaven, and he cares not 
whether there is a heaven or hades. In fact, for him life 
is not Hfe, but a continued death. 

It was such cases as these of which Jesus said that they 
had a demon, or even many devils. The mind of such is 
full of hallucinations. The sufferer knows that these vis- 
ions, these delusions, are not real; but he is unable to put 
them aside. 

This is but a mild picture of that condition of which 
millions suff'er. It is a condition toward which other mil- 
lions are rapidly approaching; for it is asserted that the 
white race is losing its "nerve," and is gradually falling 
into the neurasthenic state. 



32 The Way to Life and Immortality 

What is the cause? Simple or even foolish as it may 
seem to many, the cause is nothing but starvation of the 
nerves, due to long-continued breaking of natural law in 
many of its aspects. In fact, the cause is largely due to a 
negative state — not doing things that are necessary to nor- 
mal, natural life, not "living in the Christ." Chief among 
the causes are violation of simple hygienic conditions, as : 
insufficient and improper nourishment; hurry and rush in 
business; insufficiency of sleep, outdoor exercise, and fresh 
air. 

It stands to reason that the rational method of treat- 
ing and of healing a person that has fallen into the clutches 
of this dread disease must include restoration to normal 
compliance with the laws of nature previously violated. Of 
what value would it be to effect an instantaneous miraculous 
cure, while still permitting the patient to continue in the 
habits that brought on the difficulty in the first place? 

This serves merely as an illustration of the principle 
that true healing includes instruction in regard to natural 
as well as divine law; that true healing must touch the life 
and transform daily habits of living; that true healing 
teaches one to live, and to believe in, the Christ — to live a 
life of obedience to natural as well as divine law, and to 
trust, with sincerity and simplicity of heart, in God, the 
Father of all. We must live as the Christ lived before we 
can have undaunted faith in God and in Immortality, be- 
fore we can ourselves have true health and harmony or 
help others to attain the same desirable state of being. 

Moreover, Soul Science and the Illuminati hold it as 
a fundamental doctrine, that, if man obeys natural and di- 
vine law in their various aspects, and has faith in God, 
the Father, death of body is not a necessity. Did not Jesus 
clearly say that the last enemy to be overcome is death? 
Think ye that Jesus spoke of things that are impossible? 
Nay, all of this is possible. It is a great and mighty pos- 
sibility ; but, in order to realize this possibility, we must live, 
and believe in, the Christ. Through the Christ, all things 
are possible. To obey natural law in its varied conditions; 
to live in the Christ, and to believe in Him — this is Soul 
Science, this is the Way to Life and Immortality. 



CHAPTER TWO 

"and he sent them to preach the kingdom of god^ and 
to heal the sick." 

Those who followed Jesus were given two things to 
do : to preach the kingdom of God, or to teach the Way to 
the kingdom of God; and to heal the sick. 

It is impossible to separate the one department of 
v/ork from the other. To attempt to do so, only ends in 
failure. The established churches have tried to do this for 
centuries ; and it is now admitted even by their own men 
that results have not been satisfactory. 

Why should these two departments of work go hand 
in hand — "to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the 
sick"? Rather, the question would seem more pertinent 
and rational if it were stated thus: Why should these two 
departments of work, preaching the kingdom and healing 
the sick, not go hand in hand? Why should they ever have 
been separated at all? 

Their separation is due to an erroneous interpretation 
of the kingdom of heaven, an erroneous idea of the rela- 
tion existing between soul and body, an erroneous idea of 
salvation and redemption. Naturally, their reunion will be 
effected through a revival of the true interpretation of the 
kingdom of God and its relation to man in all departments 
of his life. 

According to the Christie Interpretation, the kingdom 
of God includes the kingdom of health and right living on 
the physical plane; salvation of soul cannot be separated 
from salvation of body ; redemption of soul presupposes 
redemption of body; Life and Immortality, in its full and 



34 The Way to Life and Immortality 

complete realization, anticipates ultimate victory over death 
and the grave. When the truth concerning man and his 
relation to God is fully comprehended, and when man lives 
the true life, and realizes the ideal relation with God, ill- 
ness is impossible. 

Again and again is it necessary for the Illuminati to 
be reminded of the saying of John : "Whosoever liveth, and 
believeth in the Christ shall never die." 

Here again are two principles which must not be sep- 
arated, but which must go hand in hand, living and be- 
lieving. He who has no faith will not live the life of faith; 
while he who has faith and lives accordingly will reap the 
fruits of such living, and the fruits are freedom from dis- 
ease and death. 

The statement that, under any consideration, man 
shall not see death is, to the sense-bound, sense-loving mind, 
indeed appalling. Possibly to some, the statement may be 
even uninviting and gruesome. But, let it be remembered 
that the promise of never-ending life is only to those who 
live in the Christ and believe in Him. To those who do 
not live in the Christ, or live according to His Laws, no 
such promise is given. Neither are such capable of en- 
tertaining a correct conception of the principle of Immor- 
tality. Only to the sense-bound, sense-loving nature is the 
promise of Immortality gruesome and uninviting. To him 
who has tasted of the sweets of the kingdom, to him who 
has realized the power and the beauty of life in the Christ, 
the promise of Immortality is an ideal possible of attain- 
ment; but he fully comprehends that its realization comes 
only through living according to the Laws of the Christ and 
through faith in the ever-present Christ Principle. 

I'Soul Science and its Christie Interpretation aims at 
reestablishing the vital and necessary connection between 
the kingdom of God and the principles of health and heal- 
ing. It aims at a practical union between preaching the 
kingdom and healing the sick. 



The Way to Life and Immortality 35 

It cannot be too strongly impressed upon those who 
would represent Soul Science and the Illuminati as teach- 
ers, that they are to be Healers as well as instructors in 
the Divine Law. They must be teachers of the truth as 
interpreted by Soul Science, but they must also become 
Healers in the true sense of the word, which includes in- 
struction in regard to the method of life that sets man free 
from disease and sufifering. 

Among people generally, there is a grievous miscon- 
ception concerning the healing of the Master Jesus. Many 
believe that he healed the sick in spite of their sinful life, 
and that they remained healed in spite of continuing in the 
old life of sin. This conception is far from the truth. In 
each instance, Jesus tested the faith of those who came to 
him for healing; and, when he found it satisfactory, he 
healed them, but always with the warning that they should 
sin no more. Well did he understand that health and har- 
mony cannot remain in the body of him who continues in 
deliberate, persistent sin, especially the sin, or the error, 
that has been the cause of illness. To heal a man of dis- 
ease while ignoring the cause, while permitting him to 
continue in habits that foster disease, is both irrational 
and unjust. Nor is there the slightest basis for such an 
interpretation of the cases of healing performed by Jesus 
and his disciples. 

Doubtless, too, a part of the testing of faith was to 
determine whether the patient understood the law of heal- 
ing and was willing to free himself from the cause of the 
difficulty. The faith that does not include a v/illingness 
to give up habits of life which cause illness is an irra- 
tional as well as an incomplete faith. The faith that ex- 
pects the man Jesus to effect a cure regardless of cause, 
the faith that hopes to remain healed regardless of un- 
natural and abnormal habits of living, is not only crude 
and deficient, but even savors of sacrilege ; for it puts to 
shame every law of honor and justice. To believe that 



36 The Way to Life and Immortalitx 

Jesus instantaneously healed the body of man without 
pointing out to the sufferer the way by which he might 
avoid such difficulty in the future, is to make of him a 
mere wonder-worker and a charlatan. 

The work of Soul Science and the lUuminati is to 
teach mankind the laws of life, to teach men how to live 
and how to believe, in order that they may become healthy, 
strong, and efficient. Its mission is an exceedingly prac- 
tical one. There is the misconception that mystical teach- 
ing deals only with the unseen, and, consequently, with 
theories and with the impractical and the fanciful. This 
is a grievous mistake. The purpose of Soul Science, in 
its various departments of instruction, is to make itsi 
teachings regarding the Law that leads to Life and Im- 
mortality applicable to every-day needs. And what is 
more needed among mankind than health, strength, and 
efficiency? Where is there a more exalted and a more 
practical mission than that of teaching the laws of the 
kingdom of God together with the laws of health and heal- 
ing? 

This is the New Age, the Age in which man must un- 
derstand that religion is not merely a system of ideas to 
be accepted and believed, but that it is the revelation of a 
mode of life, a life that must be lived daily. Being the 
revelation of the laws of life, it includes every department 
of man's nature, and is, therefore, not so much a theory 
regarding the hereafter as practical instructions which sat- 
isfy the daily needs of life here and now. 

The end and the aim of life for man is to become 
like unto the gods. Being endowed with divine qualities 
and deific attributes and powers, he fulfils his mission in 
life in proportion as he develops and uses his powers in 
harmony with universal law and order. When man lives 
a life that is entirely within the law, entirely natural and 
normal, he will be free from illness, free from corruption, 
free from all undesirable things. When man becomes 



The Way to Life and iMMORTALitV 37 

like unto the gods and is fully conscious of his oneness 
with the Infinite, sin and sickness, death and corruption, 
no longer form a part of his nature. These statements, 
to be sure, picture an ideal state; and men generally are 
by no means capable at the present moment of realizing 
this state. But to see the ideal and the possibility of its 
attainment, is necessary as a stimulus to urge one on even 
to a partial realization. 

To live the life of the Christ, does not mean, as for- 
merly held by the churches, merely the redemption of the 
soul. That idea is forced to give way under the light of 
understanding that characterizes the present age. Soul 
Science in its Ilium inati teachings maintains that re- 
demption concerns the body of man as well as the soul, 
that salvation — literally, a making sound, safe, and whole 
— pertains not only to the soul but to the body also. The 
more perfect the soul, the more perfect will be its reflec- 
tion in the body; and, under normal conditions, according 
to the perfection of the body, so is the perfection of the 
soul. However, external appearance is not always a re- 
liable index to perfection of body. The physique may be 
apparently perfect, and yet there may be an internal can- 
cer that is eating away the life of body and soul. To live 
the life of the Christ refers to true perfection of body 
and soul. The body that is normal and healthy; the soul 
that has become enlightened through love, wisdom, and 
understanding; the soul that is on the way to Illumina- 
tion and Deific Consciousness ; the body that directs its 
forces into channels of etherealization and immortality — ■ 
this pictures the true meaning of living in the Christ. 

A necessarv lesson for the seeking soul to learn is 
that the body is of prime importance in the work of soul 
development ; that physical perfection helps much, indeed 
IS necessary, in the attainment of soul perfection; that the 
two — physical culture, aiming at health, strength, and et- 
ficiency, and soul culture, aiming at the development of 



38 The Way to Life and ImmorTalitv ' 
deific powers and deific consciousness— must go hand in 
hand. If the aspirant is wise he will exercise scrupulous 
care in regard to the needs of the body in all respects, in 
order that it may be a stronger help and support to him 
in his efforts toward advancement of soul. 

The student of the kingdom will learn a lesson from 
the foolish virgins. He will be careful, not only to have 
a sufficiency of oil for his vessel, but to have oil of su- 
perior quality. He will give attention to the amount and 
to the quahty of food and drink taken for nourishment; 
he will use that only which gives strength and vitality; he 
will avoid both materials and combinations which inter- 
fere with strength and vitality. He must understand that 
strength, mastery, and supremacy of soul is proportionate 
to vitality, vigor, and strength of body. He must under- 
stand that perfection of body aims at continual, daily trans- 
mutation and renewal of cells into cells of a finer and a 
more spiritual quality, and that this continuous transfigura- 
tion of the physical into a higher and a finer type tends 
constantly toward immortalization of both body and soul. 

The church of the past has been active and zealous in 
its teachings against the use of strong drinks and intoxi- 
cants of all kinds. This teaching is to be commended; but 
Soul Science, in its various branches of instruction, goes 
farther than this. It recognizes that other drinks than 
so-called intoxicants are injurious and therefore to be 
avoided; that inferior quality of foods and indiscreet com- 
binations of food are productive of positive harm to the 
system, and are therefore to be guarded against. Soul 
Science makes the claim that poorly selected non-nutritious 
foods and a wrong combination of foods definitely affect 
the growth and the purity of man's spiritual being. Many 
are zealous in their plea for the abolition of spirituous 
liquors, who are indeed indifferent to the injurious ef- 
fects of other drinks, and ignorant of the fact that an ex- 
cess of tea, coffee, and other common beverages acts a§ 



TiiE Way to LifE ANb Immortality 39 
poison to the system as truly as does any form of intoxi- 
cants. 

It is well to understand that "wine is a mocker and 
that strong drink is raging;" but it is also well to know 
that other drinks common among men are nerve-wrecking 
and soul-destroying. It is also well to understand that an 
excess of certain food elements and a deficiency of other 
elements cause many ailments to which man is heir, and 
that, merely by rectifying these excesses and deficiencies, 
the sufferer may be restored to normal, healthful condi- 
tion. 

In large degree, health is the result of proper nour- 
ishment. Certain elements are demanded by the system 
in order to keep it in perfect condition. In selecting food, 
not only must the item of nutrition receive attention, but 
correctness of proportion of necessary elements, and har- 
monious combination of elements, must be considered. In 
large degree, disease and suffering are due to improper 
nourishment, to excesses, to deficiencies, and to unnatural 
combination of food values. 

Thus, the Church of Illumination maintains that its 
position is sane and logical in claiming that food and 
drink are legitimate subjects of consideration for those 
who are truly and deeply interested in the kingdom of 
heaven and in the healing of the sick. Likewise, it stands 
on the foundation of reason and practical experience in 
claiming that full and perfect salvation of soul is im- 
possible in a body that is illy-nourished, racked by starved 
and sensitive nerves, or poisoned by secretions of useless 
material. 

In face of the command to preach the kingdom of 
God, and to heal the sick, the advocates of Soul Science 
consider it their mission to restore proper emphasis upon 
the intimate and vital relation existing between soul and 
body. The laws of life as they pertain to hygiene and 
pfoper care of the physical being, are as much a feature 



40 The Way to Life and iMMORtALit? 

of the kingdom as are pure thoughts and worthy aspira- 
tions. To Hve and to beheve in the Christ, in its full and 
complete interpretation, includes knowledge of, and obe- 
dience to, natural law in its relation to man's physical wel- 
fare. 

Readers of these lines, and even those who come to 
the Soul Science Healer for help and advice, may con- 
sider that the life advocated by these principles is too ex- 
acting for them. Possibly after a partial, half-hearted 
trial, some will return to the old life. In doing so, they 
take back upon themselves the old weaknesses and the old 
diseases, perhaps even in exaggerated form. The diffi* 
culties and the undesirable effects of the old life are ^ 
thousand times harder to endure than would be the giving 
up of a few pet habits which cause the difficulties. In- 
stances of this type must not be thought of as fair repre- 
sentatives of Soul Science healing. They have not given 
Soul Science principles a fair trial. Nothing but whole- 
hearted loyalty and sympathetic devotion to the principles 
of life on both the physical and the mental planes can be 
accepted as a fair and an honest test of Soul Science Heal- 
ing. In many cases, a satisfactory restoration to health 
may be effected by competent Soul Science Healers in a 
very short period of time; but the one who is healed must 
remember to "go his way and sin no more," lest a worse 
evil befall him. 

However, it must not be thought that the new life, 
the life advocated by Il'luminati principles, is painfully 
exacting and difficult to follow. Rather, is the reverse 
true. The results are so beneficial that it becomes a delight 
to perfect oneself in the practice of its principles. Often 
a few simple changes in the daily habits of life will be 
all that is necessary to effect a satisfactory restoration to 
normal health and strength. A few non-essential items, 
which would never have been indulged in were it not for 
erroneous teachings, may need to be rectified or dropped 



The Way to Life and Immortality 41 

out of the life. The cross that Soul Science principles im- 
poses is not hard to bear; for it denies man none of the 
things that give true pleasure, none of the things that prove 
of benefit to him. It prohibits only those things which 
give slight, temporary, short-lived pleasure followed by 
greater pain. 

The standard of the Soul Science Healer is: "Who- 
soever liveth and believeth in the Christ shall not die." 

He teaches a system of normal, natural living, as re- 
gards habits which affect physical health and spiritual 
vigor. He teaches a philosophy that promotes right thought 
and right action in the individual life. His purpose is to 
touch the mainspring of thought and motive, and to lift 
the standard of thought to the plane of Life and Im- 
mortality, away from the plane of disease and death. He 
must instil into his patient the conviction that man must 
live right if he would be free from disease and suffering 
and death. When the seeker understands these things, the 
Healer can effectively say unto him: "Thy sins be forgiv- 
en thee, go thy way and sin no more." And thus shall it 
be ; for marvelous power is entrusted to the true Soul 
Science Healer. 

The Soul Science Healer is permeated, charged, with 
faith in God ; for he is convinced that our God is a God 
of life and not of death. He is convinced that mortality 
shall put on immortality. Is there a thought in any lan- 
guage of deeper significance than this? The mission of 
Soul Science is to help man put on immortality ; for it 
teaches him to think correctly and to live correctly. AMien 
man persists in correct habits of thought and in correct 
habits of life, he will find that mortality is passing into 
immortality, that the bodily cells are daily being trans- 
muted into cells of a finer quality. He who liveth and 
thinketh in the Christ will gradually become more and 
nmre like Him. This is the promise that the Father, Giver 
of Life, gave to mankind not only through Jesus, who be- 



42 The Way to Life ai^d tMMo&TAUTl? 

came the Christ by following this doctrine, but through 
evil the great Masters and Initiates of the past. 

It is to be admitted that many men who have under- 
stood the Law and have lived in harmony with it to the 
best of their ability, have tasted of death and passed on 
to their fathers. This fact is explained in the power of 
the race belief in the necessity of death. The race, as a 
whole, has taken it for granted that death is a necessity, 
that immortality is an impossibility. But this belief is 
rapidly giving way to the belief that physical death is 
not a necessity. Consequently, men are seeking the way 
by which man may avoid death. This is the mission of 
Soul Science and Illuminati instructions — to break the 
shackles of race belief in death, and to teach mankind the 
Way, the Truth, and the Life that leads to Lnmortality. 

The question is asked, What becomes of the millions 
who have lived in the past and who have tasted of death 
of the body. 

Many of these are now on the earth. Others will 
again return to earth. Ultimately, all, with the excep- 
tion of those who destroy their own individuality through 
deliberate wrong doing, will have repeated the earth pil- 
grimage until they have attained perfection. When that 
time shall have come, sons and daugJiters will be born to 
parents in perfection; and the millenium will have dawn- 
ed, not through faith alone, but through faith combined 
with, and exemplified through, works. 

Soul Science and its Illuminati teachings will cause 
its watchword, "God is the God of life and not of death,'' 
to resound through the whole world; and those who suf- 
fer in body and in soul will seek its temples for instruc- 
tion and healing. 

Were it not true that the body of man is of value, and 
needs to be exalted and honored with immortality, God, 
the Father, and His messengers would never have called 
it, the Temple of the Soul, or the Temple of the living 



The Way to tiFE and Immortality. -',3 

God. That the soul may be perfect, the temple must be 
made pure and holy, and must be honored with perfec- 
tion. This is attained by having confidence in the prom- 
ises given by God to man and by living in harmony with 
the laws of perfection. He who so believes and who so 
lives, is daily attaining perfection. It cannot be other- 
wise; for he is meeting the necessary conditions of per- 
fection. 

Our God,, who is "the God of life and not of death," 
says that man shall not see death if he lives and believes 
in the Christ. But He also says with equal emphasis, "The 
soul that sinneth it shall die." Equally true is it that the 
body that sinneth, and lives not in harmony with natural 
and divine law as exemplified by the Christ, shall also die. 
This is not because God desires it so, or arbitrarily wills it 
so, but because violation of law is its own penalty. He 
who violates the law of harmony suffers the inconven- 
ience of inharmony. He who violates the law of order 
must suffer the natural consequences of disorder. He 
who violates the laws of health must endure illness and 
disease. He who lives in harmony with universal law and 
order, reaps the benefits of peace and harmony. He who 
pays the price of life and immortality reaps the blessings 
of life and immortality. He vvdio lives and believes in the 
Christ passes from mortality to immortality. He who 
obeys natural and divine law, proves that there is no 
eternal death. 

Gradually, belief in the necessity of death and in the 
impossibility of immortality shall give way to the con- 
viction that our God is the God of life and not of death, 
and that he who liveth and believeth in the Christ shall 
not die. Believest thou this? 



4'^- tiiE Way to Life and tMMORtALitY 



CHAPTER THREE 

BELIEF IN DEATH BRINGS DEATH. BELIEF IN LIFE BRINGS 
MORE OF LIFE. 

Up to the present time, mankind generally, including 
the Church Fathers, has believed in a God of death. It 
has been the prevalent belief that man must die. Further- 
more, it has been considered that sickness and suffering 
are the natural states of man ; thus, the entire race has 
been inoculated with belief in disease and death. It 
seems strange that this should be the case ; for the Master 
Jesus clearly taught that whosoever believes and lives in 
the Christ shall not die. 

This doctrine of the Master Jesus positively declares 
that the state of illness and death has no part in the na- 
ture of man, and therefore should not have a place in his 
belief. And yet man is just awakening to the fact that 
somewhere he has been making a mistake all these years. 
Fie is awakening to the fact, that, instead of having faith 
in Life and Immortality, and in a God of life, he has 
been holding to the race belief in disease and suffering, in 
a God of death, and in mortality instead of Immortality. 

This race belief, the continual belief in disease and 
death as man's inheritance, has acted as a slow, death- 
dealing poison, as a virus, which has inoculated his sys- 
tem and has brought upon him these very conditions ; and, 
thus, he has been burdened with disease, and the end 
thereof has been death. 

But the two thousand years of the old cycle are end- 
ed and the new cycle is ushered in. With the ushering in 
of the new cycle, from the very beginning, the Illuminati 



46 The Way to Life and Immortality 

have stood for a God of life as opposed to a God of death, 
for the changing- of mortahty into immortahty, and for 
the doctrine that man is not "a worm of the dust," but "a 
child of the King," a child of God, the Father, and that 
his rightful inheritance is Immortality and Godhood. The 
Illuminati are doing all in their power to break away the 
chains of bondage to the belief that disease and death are 
man's inevitable heritage. They stand firmly and openly 
for the conviction that man's destiny is to become like 
God, the Father, his Creator; that his mission is to ex- 
press the divine character and attributes, and to exemplify 
his divine possibilities. 

Thus, the Temple of Illuminati and its doctrines of 
Soul Science says to its disciples : 

Put away from you the old idea that man must for- 
ever suffer and be in sorrow. Put away from you the idea 
of death. Establish in your hearts an active faith in the 
possibility of continued good health and of immortality. 
Break the fetters that bind you to the old race belief in 
the necessity of disease and death. Live right, live simply 
and normally, and in accordance with natural and divine 
law; and you will free yourself from disease and, ulti- 
mately, from the old enemy, death. This is the doctrine 
of the Illuminati, the doctrine of the coming Bride of 
the Christ. 

Not only is it necessary to put aside forever the race 
belief in the necessity of disease, sorrow, and death, but 
it is also necessary to have an active, abiding faith in 
the power and faithfulness of the All Father, and in His 
promises that man may have health and happiness and 
may become as one of the Gods. Furthermore, it is ab- 
solutely necessary for him to live according to this faith 
and to cultivate habits of life which exemplify this faith. 

The habits of life that exemplify a true faith in the 
All Father include conditions which affect man's physi- 
cal welfare, such as, sleep, rest, food, exercise, and work. 



The Way to Life and Immortality 47 

^^■orry, haste, improper eating and drinking are items that 
must be rectified. The one who seeks 'to personify Ilhim- 
inati principles must honor physical exercise, rest and re- 
creation, and the natural elements — air, light, and sun- 
shine. He must so arrange his interests as to apportion 
his time between active work, rest and relaxation, exer- 
cise and innocent pleasures, including those things which, 
under normal conditions, bring happiness to man. 

Under the item of eating, he must guard against those 
elements which are not conducive to his welfare in every 
respect. Perhaps there is no habit more detrimental to 
general health than the use of sv/cets and starches in 
abundance and to the exclusion of the necessary nerve- 
and-vitality-building foods. For, if we use an excess of 
sweets and starchy elements, naturally we cannot take as 
much of the vital foods as the system demands; and the 
result is disease, old age, and death. In regard to drinks, 
man must learn to avoid those which are stimulating, and 
must indulge more freely in those which are eliminating 
in character. When these suggestions in regard to food 
and drink are observed, balance, or harmonious adjust- 
ment of forces, results, which is conducive to health, ef- 
ficiency, youth, and long life. 

Under present economic conditions, with the excep- 
tion of the hard working manual laborer, man should free 
himself almost entirely from the use of starchy foods 
and the use of white, denatured bread. White, denatured 
flour in all its products should have no part in his dietary. 
It is such foods as these, including refined sugars, which 
rob the system of the natural 'lime necessary to its wel- 
fare, and which produce the abnormal craving for tea, 
coffee, and strong drink. Because of abnormal craving, 
man thinks that he needs these products and therefore in- 
dulges in them freely, only to find that they are superficial 
arid temporary in their effects, and not of vital, perma- 
nent value to the organism. Cut, when the proper foods 



48 The Way to Life and Immortality 

are taken into the system, this abnormal craving gradually 
diminishes, and an actual building up of the system re- 
sults; and the organism becomes free from those serums 
which cause illness, old age, and death. 

The Soul Scientist treats not only the soul but the 
physical man as well; for he knows that the Immortal 
Soul must have its foundation in a normal, healthy body. 
Otherwise, the soul can not develop permanency of in- 
dividual existence. The Illuminati principles, through Soul 
Science, deals with the whole being. In this, they follow 
the command of the Master Jesus and all other true Mas- 
ters and Initiates in their emphasis on Life and Immor- 
tality, and an active faith. 

The faith advocated by Soul Science is not a fanati- 
cal faith, but a faith that is founded on reason and on the 
truth. It is practical results which prove the truth or 
the falsity, the benefit or the disadvantage, of a system 
of belief or a doctrine. It has been brought to a satis- 
factory test time and again that, when man obeys the prin- 
ciples of Soul Science and gives them a thorough, faithful 
trial, in every instance health, peace, and efficiency have 
been the fruits. In face of these results, followers of 
Soul Science instructions are becoming ever more zealous 
in the propagation of their principles. They are daily 
more fully convinced that theirs is a normal, rational faith, 
based on the Christie Interpretation of Truth. 

The old doctrine has been that the chief aim and end 
of life is ''to glorify God, and to enjoy oneself forever.'' 
When one seriously considers the meaning of the exp-es- 
sion, "to glorify God," one is willing to admit that it is 
all-inclusive in its scope, and that it may well be thought 
of as "the chief end and aim of life." But, alas, how few 
give these v/ords a single serious thought ! 

How can man better glorify God than by becoming 
like Him? How better, than by living such a normal, 
happy life as to free himself from the conditions of ill- 



The Way to Life and Immortality 49 

health, suffering, and sorrow? How better, than to say: 
Here am I, my body is perfect, and functions as 
freely and as regularly as the universe, part of which I am. 
Here I stand, not only with a perfect body, but with a soul 
that is also perfect in its activities. My body is like the 
universe in its obedience to law and order. My soul 
is like the Father who rules the universe. Though but a 
small being, a little universe, a Microcosm, my perfec- 
tion is fashioned after the great universe, the Macrocosm; 
and my Soul daily inhales the perfection of the Father 
who rules the Universe. I am daily obeying the com- 
mand, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in 
heaven is perfect." 

However extravagant these words may seem to the 
sense-bound, sense-loving mind, there is nothing of sacri- 
lege or of blasphemy in them. They merely express obe- 
dience to the standards of the Master Jesus after finding 
the Perfect Soul, the Christ, within himself. When prop- 
erly unedrstood, they express humility, the deepest man 
can know ; self-renunciation, the most complete ; sincerity 
and simplicity of trust in God, the Father, rather than in 
the self, the most profound possible to man. 

In reaching this stage of perfection, he still remains 
man; and it is then that he can enjoy himself forever. 
Again, in reaching this stage of perfection, man is not re- 
quired to give up a single thing that brings true enjoy- 
ment or true happiness. He gives up only those things 
which bring a temporary enjoyment, but which, like a 
thief in the night, rob him of tenfold more than they bring. 
No seeker need think that he is called upon to give up 
the pleasures that belong to the normal human being. Such 
is not the case. Only those things which bring pain or 
sorrow to the one indulging in them or to another are 
forbidden man. It is well to accept the principle that the 
chief end of life is to glorify God and to enjoy oneself 
forever; but it must be remembered that enjoyment can 



53 The Way to Life and Im mortality 

be true enjoyment only when it is at the expense neither 
of the self nor of any other human being. 

Under the old race belief that man must be sick, that 
he must suffer, and that death is the end of all, there 
could be no sure and lasting enjoyment; for in the midst 
of pleasure comes the thought of illness and death. But, 
under the new dispensation, all this passes away ; and 
man knows that he need not "surely die," but that he may 
''surely live," if he is only willing to live the life of the 
Christ — life, as Soul Science and the Illuminati teach it, 
a natural, normal, and blessed life. 

But this is not all. In obtaining freedom for the 
physical being, the Temple, there is also obtained some- 
thing even greater — that is, nothing less than Illumina- 
tion of Soul. It is herein that the Soul Scientist finds his 
strongest basis for belief in the Fatherhood of God and 
in the Immortality of the Soul; for, when he obeys the 
natural and divine laws, when he obtains freedom for 
the body, he also obtains liberty for the soul Through 
continued living the life of the Christ, there takes place 
gradually the new birth of the soul. Then the soul comes 
to see and to know those things which the mere physical 
man can never know. Consequently, man becomes, in 
truth, like one of the Gods; for he has freedom for the 
physical being, and liberty and clear vision for the Inner 
Being, the Immortal Soul. 

It is the soul in man that is striving for liberty, and 
for enlightenment. The soul in man has been striving for 
its higher freedom, lo, these many years; but man has 
been held down by the race belief. And a few, perhaps 
only one in a million, ever comes to think and to act in 
advance of the age in which he lives. The general race 
belief has been holding mankind almost universally in 
bondage, and causes men individually to shrink in horror 
from thinking and believing that which is not accepted 
by the many. But the soul is gaining superiority over its 



The Way to Life and Immortality 51 

environments. The general belief in disease and death 
is broken. The new cycle and the new dispensation have 
brought in a new era, a time in which man shall no longer 
fear to think, no longer fear to cast off the shackles that 
have bound him. The new era is helping man to know the 
truth and to overcome "the last enemy, death." 

The Illuminati, through the medium of Soul Science, 
have been laboring in the field these many years, teaching 
that the soul of man is immortal, that the body of man may 
be brought to a state of freedom from corruption, that all 
men may draw upon the universal, spirit of God as freely 
and as fully as they choose, and thus have life ever more 
abundantly. While on earth, the Master Jesus taught 
mankind "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." But that 
few understood what he meant by "the Way, the Truth, 
and the Life," is seen in the fact that on all sides are 
misery and sorrow, disease and corruption; and vast multi- 
tudes believe that only in death are peace and happiness 
to be found. The multitudes have forgotten that Jesus 
taught that the truth would bring life, and life more abun- 
dantly ; that his teachings would be as bread come down 
from heaven ; that he who partakes freely of the teachings 
should have life and not death. Mankind has been blind 
these many centuries, and has not been able to believe that 
life and not death, enjoyment and not sorrow, should be 
the common lot of man. 

This truth, that the end and the aim of life is to 
glorify God and to exemplify the principle that our God 
is a God of life and not of death, the Illuminati through 
its Soul Science have been teaching — truth pure and clear 
as it comes from the very fountain of life. This 'truth 
is not given in symbolism and in obscure phraseology so 
that only the few can understand, but in clear language 
and in ringing tones, so that all may comprehend, so that 
all who will may live the life and reap the fruits of such 
Jiving. 



52 The Way to Life and Immortalitx 

The Illuminati and the disciples of Soul Science say 
unto all: 

Learn the truth, live according to the truth. Believe 
actively that life in the Christ is good; that man is! not] 
born to suffering and disease; that man need not always 
be a creature of pain and misery if he is willing to live in 
harmony with natural and divine law. Let each one live 
in harmony with the truth that man is made in the image 
of the Creator, God. Put away from you now and forever 
the thought that you must suffer and "surely die." Put in 
its place the conviction that you are a child of God, that 
the Father has given you all power ; that sickness and death 
are not for you, but that more and continually more and 
more of life are yours, and that the more abundant life 
ends in Immortality. Free yourself from the race belief 
in the necessity of sin, disease, and death ; for this very 
belief attracts the object of its faith and tends toward the 
conditions that it represents. Know that God is good, that 
in the Universal Storehouse of God there is life— life free 
and abundant — and that you may draw therefrom accord- 
ing to your need. Know that, for drawing upon the vibra- 
tions of life from the Infinite Storehouse, the only requi- 
site is faith in God and in yourself, faith that enables you 
to live the normal, natural life — life free from destructive 
conditions, life that accepts nothing, neither thought nor 
desire, neither food nor drink, which may in any way 
prove detrimental to continued life. 

The Soul Science He'aler teaches his people such 
truths as these. He teaches them how to live; how to 
draw upon the Infinite Supply of Life, Love, and Wisdom ; 
how to bring their being into harmony with the Universal 
Law, and to free themselves from disease, suffering, and 
other undesirable conditions. He teaches faith, as the be- 
ginning of the new life; but he teaches works as a neces- 
sary part of an active faith. He teaches man to think 
right, to believe right, and to entertain right desires ; and, 
as a consequence of constructive thought, correct belief, 
and worthy desires, his life will be in harmony with the 
Universal Law, and, eventually, mortality will put on Im- 
mortality. 



CHAPTER FOUR 

THE LIFE WITHOUT DEATH IS GOD'S PLAN. 

In allowing the divine spark to leave the heavenly 
spheres and to incarnate in a physical, or earthly, body on 
this plane, it was God's plan that, first, through incarna- 
tion, the divine spark should become a personality, separate 
from God, the All Creator, and, that, second, the person- 
ality, through development, should become an individuality, 
or conscious self-existent being. Through the attainment 
of personality and of individuality, the soul spark is des- 
tined to pass through the knowledge of good and evil, pain 
and sorrow ; but it is not the divine plan for it to stop with 
this. According to the divine purpose, the soul is to gQ 
onward and upward until it reaches the Sublime Realiza- 
tion, that which, the Illuminati in their Soul Science call 
IlliUTiination of Soul. 

Between the man who is simply a personality and the 
man who has reached individuality, there is a mighty gulf. 
The one is of the flesh and lives in the flesh. He may be- 
lieve in God ; but he does not knozv God. He is a carnal 
being with carnal desires, and, at best, is little more than 
"a worm of the dust." He has little comprehension of 
the divine possibilities latent in his own being. He has 
but meagre aspirations for higher and better achievements. 
Far different is the man who has attained individuality. 
He has awakened to the real meaning of the principles of 
Jesus and other great Masters. He is filled with a burn- 
ing desire to live in harmony with these principles, and to 
test the highest standards of life. His ambition runs in 
channels of true development. He aspires after a full and 



S4 The Way to Life and Immortality 

complete consciousness of his own Oneness with the In- 
finite. Through lofty and worthy aspirations, and through 
a life of self-sacrifice and of usefulness to others, he 
arouses the divine spark, the soul, within his own being, 
into a state of consciousness and of dynamic activity. Thus, 
the divine spark of a soul develops gradually into the Christ, 
or the Christos, the Son of God. 

Moreover, in the full realization of the Christos, the 
individual will comprehend the significance of the promise 
that the last enemy, death, is to be overcome. He will 
understand that this promise may actually be fulfilled; 
furthermore, he will understand how the promise is to be 
fulfilled. He will perceive that it is possible for the time 
to come when man shall no more be sick, and shall no more 
know death. In the full realization of the Christos, he be- 
comes truly conscious of his Sonship with the Father; the 
Dove of Peace descends upon him, and, in unmistakable 
tones, says: "This is my beloved Son in whom I am 
well pleased." 

This is the Sublime Realization, It is the end and the 
aim of man's life on earth. Moreover, cycle upon cycle 
shall pass, man shall return to the earth plane again and 
again until he has received this Sublime Realization, this 
Divine Illumination. It is the purpose and the plan of God, 
the Heavenly Father, the Infinite Creator, for man to at- 
tain this realization. However, in infinite wisdom, He has 
endowed man with free-will and with right of choice; and 
he is therefore free to accept or to reject "the Way, the 
Truth, and the Life" that leads to this exalted Conscious- 
ness. 

Two possibilities are placed before man, subject to his 
freedom of choice. The one opens to him the opportunity 
of unfolding his divine nature and of developing his deific 
attributes, thus exemplifying the fact of his being made in 
the divine image. This path leads to the Sublime Realiza- 
tion of Sonship with God, the Father. It is the path o| 



The Way to Life and Immortality SS 

self-crucifixion and of Christ Exaltation. It is marked by 
purity of thought and purpose, and by a continual sur- 
render of the carnal nature to the Christ Ideal, a continual 
transmutation of the baser metals of the lower personality 
into the pure gold of spirituality. It is development of 
soul, which culminates in an Immortal Individuality. Its 
chief marks are goodness and service to others. But, if 
man does not, of his own free choice, travel this path and 
meet the full requirement of its conditions, he pays the 
penalty of retrogression ; and the divine spark of a soul 
smoulders under the ashes of selfishness and carnality. He 
may repeat the earth life time and time again ; but, if he 
persists in deliberate sin and wrong doing, he will event- 
ually be thrown back to the elements whence he came. 
1 he divine spark, not having attained individuality, returns 
to the Father, losing its identity in the storehouse of uni- 
versal essences. The body returns to mother earth whence 
its elements came. Cycle upon cycle shall pass, man shall 
return again and again, until he has either attained the 
Sublime Realization or has been thrown back to the origi- 
nal elements. 

The end and the goal of life is attained in the Sublime 
Realization of Oneness with God. This, both in the pro- 
cess of attainment and in the realization, is a life of service 
to humanity. It is a life of faith, a life attended by the 
works of faith. 

The ordinary man does not really believe the promises 
of God. He thinks that he believes; but the conditions of 
his life prove that his faith is not true faith. For, if he 
actually believes in the promises, he will live according to 
them, and will do the works of faith in a life of goodness 
and helpful service to others. And, when he faithfully 
lives in harmony with the promises of a true faith, he will 
not be continually harassed by illness, suffering, and tor- 
ment. The suffering of the multitudes round about us in- 
dicates that men generally have not a true faith in God or 



56 The Way to Life and Immortality 

ill the promises of God. 

The first step to be taken in the search for freedom 
— freedom from all undesirable conditions — is a step of 
faith. It is for man to muster faith in God and in His 
promises. It matters not whether he learns of these prom- 
ises through the Sacred Scriptures or through the old 
philosophies — it is for him to muster indomitable courage 
and an invincible faith in the verity of the promises of 
God to man. He must put his faith into practice and live 
daily the deeds and the aspirations of faith. As he lives 
the life of faith, he will reap the rewards of such a life. 
The results include a greater knowledge; and, as knowl- 
edge increases, faith increases and intensifies, enabling 
him to live a still more nearly perfect life. Man must use 
the one talent that he has ; and, as he does so, other talents 
will be given him, until finally all the talents will be his. 
Such is the promise. 

In the hearts of all men there is a divine impulse. 
The multitudes scarcely know what this impulse is; but 
the fact remains that there is such an impulse within them, 
there is an "inner urge" for something which they have 
not. This urge is constant, day and night, year in and year 
out. This is the divine impulse given to man, or placed 
in the heart of man by his God, urging him to seek, and to 
put forth effort to attain, the Sublime Realization of God. 

If man begins to listen to this urge within and to heed 
its intimations, it will lead him ever upward and onward. 
As he follows one good impulse, another will take its 
place. Thus, step by step, he is led to the Divine Realiza- 
tion. In proportion as he realizes the Sublime Conscious- 
ness, in that proportion will he experience health and peace 
and happiness. And, as he substitutes in place of the race 
belief in the necessity of death the conviction that our God 
is a God of life and not of death, so v/ill he eventlially 
overcome the last great enemy, death. 

All philosophies have taught the deathless life, an(|. 



The Way, to Life and ImmortalitV- B7 

broadly hinted at the time coming when man should not 
die, when he should reach perfection of both body and soul 
here on the earth plane. However, it remained for Jesus 
to demonstrate to mankind the possibility of perfecting the 
physical being, perfecting it to such degree that it might 
even be taken up again after being laid down in the throes 
of death. 

And, just as Jesus lived the life that led him to the 
Sublime Realization, to the deathless life, so did he give 
man the promrse and the instructions that should lead him 
also to the deathless life. But man has not believed deep- 
ly enough to obtain the promised deathless life, the life 
that should reach the ultimate. Of the teachings, which, 
according to his claim, were given him from the Father for 
mankind, this is a clear statement : "Whosoever shall eat 
of the bread that I give, shall have eternal life." ,The 
bread to which he refers is wisdom, and true understand- 
ing of the laws of life. The man who lives according to 
the Christie laws shall have life unto eternity- Moreover, 
the life shall be one of peace, of happiness, and of! con- 
tentment. 

It is these sublime teachings^ — the Christie Interpreta- 
tion of "the bread of life" — teachings covered over by cen- 
turies of creedism, which the Temple of lUuminati places 
before all peoples. Whosoever is willing to live according 
to these teachings shall find health and freedom from the 
miseries that are the common lot of mankind at the pres- 
ent time. This is the divine purpose, the divine plan, for 
man — to attain the Sublime Realization of life without 
death. To support this divine purpose, and to reestablish 
faith in this divine plan, is the mission of Soul Science and 
Illuminati instructions. 

The doctrine of life without death is based on the 
Christie Interpretation of the Divine Law, on the Sacred 
Scriptures, and on the ancient philosophies as understood 
by all o^reat Masters and true Initiates. That the ultimate:. 



B8 The Way to Life and Immortalitv 

of man's destiny is life eternal and consciousness of im- 
mortality, has ever been the standard of all true Initia- 
tion. That such victory over death as our Master Jesus 
demonstrated is for all who will meet the requirements of 
the Divine Law as he met them in actual experience, is 
the honest conviction of the advocates of Soul Science and 
Illuminati principles. 

But let no one think that, by any miraculous display, 
man may jump into such power at one bound. Such power 
is the culmination of soul development extending through 
repeated earth pilgrimages; rather, it is the culmination 
of a development of both body and soul through repeated 
incarnations in harmony with both natural and divine law. 
That there is a science of development for both body and 
soul, a science that explains laws and methods, and points 
out "the Way, the Truth, and the Life" underlying such 
development, is the conviction of the Illuminati. To teach 
mankind these laws of development on both the physical 
and the spiritual plane, is the purpose of Soul Science. In 
this sense, Soul Science is the Way to Immortality. 

First of all, must be broken the fetters of a long- 
standing belief in the necessity of sin, disease, and death ; 
and there must be substituted in the hearts of men the 
conviction that sin, disease, and death are not according 
to the divine purpose for man, but that, being created in 
the image of God, man is endowed with divine attributes 
and divine powers, which, when developed an J used, will 
enable him, ultimately, to overcome even the grim monster 
death. 

Advancement in any line demands a beginning. With 
many into whose hands these pages fall, a beginning has 
already been made. The fact that one ponders these words 
with carefulness and with interest is proof of some sort 
of a beginning. Interest in this trend of thought, and a 
desire to search after truth, indicate that a necessary step 
has been taken. It is only required for the earnest seeker 



The Way to Life and Immortality B9 

after truth to persist in overcoming carnality and the su- 
premacy of the lower nature. He must persist in freeing 
himself from carnal desires and from the tendency to in- 
dulge in negative destructive thought habits; for carnal 
desires and negative thought conditions tend toward death. 
With many who read these words, a beginning in the new 
life has been made in a previous incarnation and perhaps, 
even many steps may have been taken on the path of at- 
tainment ; yet it will still seem that new beginnings are 
often required before they reach the goal of tlieir aspira- 
tions. To make a new start under new "conditions, each 
time adds zest, and marks a step of progress in the path 
of advancement. 

Man may be thoroughly convinced that life according 
to the Divine Plan is the only true and satisfactory life; 
yet it seems easier to follow the dictates and the intima- 
tions of the carnal self, while persistent effort is required 
in living the Ideal established by the Divine Plan. Conse- 
quently, the majority of mankind are following the desires 
cf the personality, and are living in harmony with them. 
This path leads ever toward disease and death. 

Bui, gradually, soon, even in this age, things are to 
change. Great changes have already taken place. Man 
is beginning to think, he is searching for the cause of 
conditions. He is investigating the relation between cause 
and effect. He questions, IVIiy such misery and such suf- 
fering. He beholds the character of life led by mankind 
generally, he associates the cause with the Iffe, and knows 
that something is lacking. Gradually, he comes to the con- 
clusion, that, having tried the old way, lo, these many cen- 
turies, he will now try the new ; for the new can not be 
worse than the old. As he begins the new life and lives 
the life of faith attended by works corresponding to the 
faith, results are gratifying, even more gratifying than he 
had anticipated or had even thought possible. Thus, not 
the one, nor yet the few, but even the many, are ^being 



60 The Way to Life and iMMbRfALif? 

awakened to the spirit of the new age. The past race be- 
hef in bondage and death is being transplanted by the new 
race behef in freedom and Hfe. 

It is not difficult to determine the reason for condi- 
tions when one remembers the law of correspondence. 
There is a law of correspondence between all things, be- 
tween that which is above and that which is below, be- 
tween the universe and God, between the unrverse and man, 
and even between man and his God and Creator. Man 
partakes of both heaven and earth. The body is of the 
earth, earthy. The soul is of the heavens, heavenly. Con- 
dition depends on which power is in the ascendancy. If 
the body and its desires are in the ascendancy, the condi- 
tions of man's life tend toward disease and death. If the 
soul is in the ascendancy, and the body is a faithful servant 
to the soul, then man's life and character exemplify satis- 
factory correspondence with God and the universe, and 
manifest the fact of his being created in the divine image. 

With the exception of the Illuminated ones, to the man 
of the present age, the soul is merely a weird something 
to believe in, something of which he has no certain knowl- 
edge, while the body is tangible and visible, something 
tliat feels pleasure and pain. Consequently, the body is a 
reality, and the soul is at best but a fanciful theory. Be- 
ing to him a reality, the body has a right to claim su- 
preme attention. And it is in every way to his interest to 
cater to the desires and the appetites of the body, notwith- 
standing it is these very desires and appetites which, when 
indulged in to excess or contrary to the w^ise guidance of 
the soul, lead to disease and death. Until the desires of 
the body have been made subservient to the wisdom of the 
soul they lead downw^ards. For centuries, mankind has 
listened to the desires of the body regardless of the higher 
interests of the soul. Thus, the body, being of the earth, 
earthy, tending toward disease and suffering and death, has 
been holding supremacy in the life of mankind. 



The Way to Life and Immortality 61 

The desires of the soul are different both in imme- 
diate effects and in permanent results. The soul, being of 
Cod, in its desires and its inclinations, reaches upward. But, 
being unseen and merely felt, man has put aside the im- 
pulses and the intuitions of the soul, he has covered them 
up; and the result is that the soul of man has been sleep- 
ing the sleep of dormancy and inactivity. 

When the voice of the soul, the divine urge, is heard 
and obeyed, then, step by step, the soul leads itself and 
the body upward until eventually the Sublime Realization 
of life without death is reached. Thus, man frees him- 
self not only from disease and death, but also from all 
other undesirable things. In addition, besides thus freeing 
itself, the soul has come into harmony with the Father, it 
has become Illuminated, a living Son of God, one in whom 
the Father is well pleased. 

This type of life, in which the soul holds the suprem- 
acy over the body, is the life the Master Jesus lived. He 
had faith in the teachings of the Masters of old. And, as 
he lived in harmony with the laws of their teachings, he 
gradually grew into the Divine Realization, until, at last, 
he had so purified and refined the body that it was free 
from sickness and from misery, and was qualified to mani- 
fest ultimate victory over death and to come into the Glory 
of God while in the flesh. 

According to the divine promise, all men can, if they 
will, live the life that Jesus lived; and, through faithful, 
persistent obedience to the Law and through service to 
humanity, it is possible for all men to reach the Divine 
Realization and 'to come into the Glory of God while here 
on the earth. 

It must not be thought that such a life as Jesus lived 
in order to attain victory over death and the grave is not 
a real or a practical life. Directly the contrary is true. 
The true man is neither a parasite nor an unprofitable 
member of society. The true man lives a life of service 



62 The Way to Life and Immortality" 

to others. He engages in business, and fulfils the duties 
that devolve on all men. He is faithful to the duties of 
home life and neighborhood interests, and is responsive 
to the demands of society at large. Nor must it be thought 
that he who desires to realize the power of the Christ over 
death and the grave is to deny himself all pleasures and all 
recreation and all delights. Directly the contrary is true. 
He is entitled to innocent and harmless pleasures and re- 
creations and to all those things in which the healthy, nor- 
mal human being delights. The only check on pleasure 
of any description is the provision that it shall be free 
from harm to himself and to others. 

Man is by nature a social being. Of all things creat- 
ed, he is the only one to which is given the smile and the 
laugh. This in itself indicates that the social instinct and 
the gift of smile and laughter were given him for a pur- 
pose. The more he encourages the wholesome spirit of 
merriment and amiability, the better it is for himself and 
for those with whom he comes in contact. The life of the 
Illuminated is not an aimless, insipid, unattractive life. 
Nothing that is truly good is denied him, whether it be for 
enjoyment or for profit. All things are his if he will use 
them for a right and noble purpose in order that he may 
benefit himself and others. 

In order that man may reach the highest, he must 
follow two lines of development. He must perfect both 
body and soul. Could he perfect body alone, free it from 
sickness and death, he would be no more than a perfect 
machine. In order to be more, than a perfect instrument, 
he must perfect the Inner Man, the Soul, and, through its 
perfection, come into direct personal touch and commun- 
ion with the Father. He must follow a useful life, he must 
live according to the Divine Plan, according to the teach- 
ings that come through the instrumentality of those who 
have lived in harmony with both natural and divine law. 

How is communion with the Godhead to be estab- 
li3hed ? 



The Way to Life and Immortality. 63 

This comes through fellowship with God, through 
daily communion with Him, through a companionship di- 
rectly with the Father, a companionship not dreamed of 
by the multitudes. This fellowship is established more 
easily than man generally thinks. It results in a holy com- 
munion with God, the Father, which raises man gradually 
to the very highest. The best method for establishing such 
communion is through heart prayer in the Silence, by 
means of Sacred Mantrams. Sacred Mantrams, definitely 
formed with a definite purpose in view, and held in the 
heart to the exclusion of all else, will help man gradually 
to come into communion with the Father. 

This is not accomplished at once. The child that is 
just beginning to talk is not understood by the parent, nor 
does the child understand the parent though the parent 
speaks plainly to the child. Nevertheless, our heart prayer, 
though imperfect, is understood by the Father; while we, 
not comprehending the divine language, do not under- 
stand the Father at first though He speaks plainly to us. 
But, if we are faithful to our prayer, gradually the heart 
comes into harmonious communion with the Father, and 
we will receive the heavenly music and will comprehend 
what the Father says to the Son. Thus is man and lids 
God brought into communion and fellowship. 

Thus, in time, does man attain perfection of body and 
free himself from sin, sickness, and death. Thus, in time, 
does he attain perfection of soul and the Sublime Con- 
sciousness, consummation of the divine plan. It is these 
very things, the laws and the methods that underlie per- 
fection of body and soul, which the Illuminati teach man- 
kind through Soul Science, the Way to Immortality. 



64 The Way to Life and Immortality 



CHAPTER FIVE 

ONLY THE LIFE OF DEATH LEADS TO DEATH. 

The history of all inanimate things, as well as of the 
vegetable, animal, and human kingdoms, is the history of 
evolution. 

In so far as the ordinary life of all things is con- 
cerned, the theory of evolution is correct. But evolution- 
ists, as a rule, fail to take into consideration one important 
point, namely: the fact that man, having been given free- 
v/ill (no matter by whom, whether by God or by him- 
self), has the privilege of v/orking in harmony with the 
laws of nature; and, when he awakens to this fact, he is 
no longer bound by the law of evolution, nor is he held 
l)ack by it, but, by cooperating with it, he may outstrip it 
by far in the end. In order to w^ork in harmony with the 
law of evolution, yet transcend its results, man must un- 
derstand the greater law, that of Interior Development ; 
and, by making use of this power, he is enabled to accom- 
plish in one lifetime as much as the law of evolutionary 
progress could accomplish in thousands of years. 

Thus, when man awakens from the deadening in- 
fluences of the carnal self, and begins to recognize his 
great powers, he sets in motion new laws (or rather, laws 
that Vv^ere heretofore unknov/n to him) ; and, instead of 
being a pawn in the grasp of the law of evolution, he be- 
comes a master and works in harmony with, yet superior 
to, the law of evolution. By working thus, life becomes 
an unfoldment, a growth, in which he himself has con- 
scious share. Whereas, without his voluntary cooperation, 
he is pushed forward merely because it must needs be 



66 The Way to Life and Immortalitx 

so; for the law of progress forces him to advance, though 
slowly, whether he wills it so or not. 

The Law of Interior Unfoldment is not new to man. 
It is not an invention or a discovery of modern times, nor 
is it the product of a fanatical imagination. It is a Law 
that has been known to the Masters of all ages. The An- 
cient Egyptians made use of it in the training of their 
priests. Every Neophyte in the Ancient Priesthood was 
developed and trained under this Law. By Egyptian 
Priests, who perfectly understood the Law of Develop- 
ment and Interior Unfoldment as well as the law of evo- 
lution, was Jesus trained unto Mastership; and for this 
reason he became the great Master and Teacher of man- 
Is ind. 

It is freely admitted that the law of evolution may 
accomplish what the Law of Conscious Development ac- 
complishes. But the fact remains that, by following the 
Law of Conscious Development, man accomplishes in one 
short lifetime what nature and her laws working alone 
would require thousands of years, aye, possibly cycles. 

This fact is illustrated in the animal kingdom, which, 
unless man takes a hand, is under the law of evolution. 
Any animal would serve as an illustration; but, to be spe- 
cific, take the common hen. Allow her to run freely and 
to mate as she pleases, and there will be practically no 
improvement in her progeny within a period of thirty 
years. But let the man who understands Ihe laws that 
concern the improvement of species take charge of the 
hen and mate her according to the laws of development, 
and in less than ten years he will produce the finest and 
most highly developed stock. This simply means that, in 
the improvement of species, man does not blindly depend 
on the laws of evolution, but that while working in har- 
mony with them he makes use of a higher law, the Law 
of Development. 

It is the same with man, If left to nature and 



Jhe Way to Life and Immortality 67 

her laws of propress, it is possible that he may, through 
the space of aeons and cycles, become a Soulified being. 
Lut, if he awakens to the possibilities of his destiny, and 
if, through working in harmony with the universal laws of 
progress, he makes voluntary use of the Law of Conscious 
Development or Interior Unfoldment, he may, in a com- 
paratively short time, attain the Divine Consciousness. 

The free choice belongs to man. This is the age of 
Illumination. It is an age in which the truth is being 
spread among mankind. The infinite possibilities of man's 
nature are being clearly pointed out to him. He is taught 
that instead of being a slave, "a worm of the dust," he 
has within himself the germ of Godhood, and that all he 
needs to do is to live in harmony with natural and divine 
laws. If he does this faithfully and conscientiously, he 
may be free from sickness and eventually be free from 
death. 

Even those who consider Jesus merely as a great 
philosopher, and not as being in very truth the Son of God, 
can well afford to heed his instructions regarding the Law 
of Conscious Development and Interior Unfoldment. Even 
those who think slightingly of the Sacred Scriptures will 
do well to adopt for their own standard the doctrine that 
culminates in victory over death and the grave. 

"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, \vhere is thy 
victory ?" 

This expression is not a mere literary device, nor is it 
a fanciful theory. Rather, it expresses ultimate truth. Aft- 
er the flesh has been overcome, after the soul has arisen 
free and in glory from the ex'perience men call death, then 
it is apprehended as indeed true that in death there is no 
sting, in the grave there is no victory. 

This exclamation would have no value in itself to 
mankind had it not been demonstrated that death has no 
terror for those who have obeyed the Law of Unfoldment, 
that there is no death for the free, enlightened, illumined 



68 The Way to Lifk And Immortalitx 

Soul. Even then, its value would have been negative but 
for the fact that the Master Jesus demonstrated the fruits 
of living in harmony with the Law of Unfoldment, and 
that he was able, through his own life, both to demonstrate 
to mankind the truth of the Law and to prove that obe- 
dience to the Law brings the legitimate fruits of obedience. 
Aye, even then, the teaching would be negative but for an- 
other fact" — Jesus taught that, as he had done, so is it 
possible for all men to test the efficacy of living in obe- 
dience to the Law of Spiritual Unfoldment, and to prove 
the power of the Christ over sin, death, and the grave. 

The true life of man is a life of Literior Unfoldment 
— unfoldment from one degree, of being to another, a con- 
tinuous unfoldment, which leads from carnality and self- 
ishness upward to the plane of Godhood and Christship. 
Startling as this doctrine may seem, yet, nowhere in the 
Scriptures, nowhere in the philosophies, is there to be 
found a single statement contradictory to this principle; 
but everywhere, on every hand, is found evidence of the 
truth of these statements. 

True, there is on record this saying : "Man that is born 
of woman is of few days and full of trouble." In its 
literalness, this statement contradicts the doctrine of life, 
joy, and immortality. Advocates of Soul Science and the 
Illuminati principles, however, claim that man when he 
has awakened from the carnal nature and has accepted the 
Divine Law as his standard and is following the Law of 
Unfoldment is no longer to be spoken of as "man that is 
born of woman," but is truly "man that is born of God." 
In the process of unfoldment, his carnal nature and even 
his body have been changed into the finer, the electric, be- 
ing, and has therefore been born again, born of God, and 
is free from the laws that previously bound him. "Man 
that is born of woman" is full of trouble. But man that 
is born of God is no longer full of trouble, because condi- 
tions previously thought of as sorrows he has learned to 



The Way to Life and Immortalitv 69 

consider as valuable experiences of life, stepping stones to 
a greater and a higher lazv. As man born of God, lie is 
heir to Life, Light, and Immortality. 

Through such principles do Soul Science and the II- 
luminati lead their disciples away from the realm of death, 
away from the belief that God is a God of death, uiito 
the realm of Life and Immortality, and to the truth that 
our God is a God of life. 

The law of death, the carnal life, leads only to death; 
and, in this realm, is man truly born of woman, of few 
days, and full of sorrow. All this, however, the awakened 
man changes, he throws off the shackles of disease and of 
death, the shackles of ignorance and of fear; and he stands 
boldly before God, the Life Giver, and demands the herit- 
age that is his, the heritage of Life, Light, and Immor- 
tality. 

The life of death leads only to death; but there is a 
higher, a greater life — a life that is free from the passions 
that kill, a life that gradually frees itself from the destroy- 
ers, anger and jealousy, and puts in their place, love and 
forgiveness. 

One of the most important things for man to do 
on entering the higher life is to free himself from that 
destructive power, that "Red Light of Death," anger. Sig- 
nificant indeed is the saying of the ancient philosophers, 
"Him whom the gods would destroy they first make mad." 
Nor is it far from being a literal statement of truth. Anger 
f^lls the entire system — body, mind, and soul — with poisons, 
and brings death in its path. He who becomes angry 
loses the sense of judgment; and, while in anger, he does 
things vs^hich he would not otherwise do. So great is the 
poison generated by this passion that it has been known 
to kill outright through the disease called apoplexy. More- 
over, a fit of anger in the mother has been known to poison 
her milk so thoroughly that it has caused the death of the 
child suckling at her breast. The first step therefore in 



!?0 The Way to Life and iMMORtALltY 

the overcoming of sickness and death is to free the self 
of anger and a hasty temper; for this is the most destruc- 
tive of all the passions, and is the foundation upon which 
all other destructive passions rest. 

If this passion is so destructive, it is but reasonable 
to teach that it must be overcome in order to insure health 
of body, mind, and soul. Left unrestrained, it tends to- 
ward disease, unhappiness, and, ultimately, death itself. 
Furthermore, if man overcomes this deadly passion, he will 
be able, through the power thus acquired, to gain victory 
over all other destructive passions. He will, as a result, 
receive health of body, mind, and soul, and eventually reach 
Illumination and overcome the last great enemy. 

Remember that to live the life of death is to be over- 
come by death. No child of man ever plays with fire for 
any length of time v/ithout being burned. An.d no man can 
play with the Vv'capons of death without being claimed 
by death. 

Of the vices, or the passions, that lead to death, anger 
has been named as the most deadly. But there are other 
kindred instruments of death to which the carnal man is 
heir. Among these are jealousy, envy, faultfinding, and 
harsh criticisms of the failings, real or supposed, of our 
fellow beings. All these passions, destructive in the ex- 
treme, have been called "the green passions"; because they 
produce a poison that is green in color, they give the aura 
a green tinge, the color of destructiveness. 

The tendency to anger and impatience is v/ell-nigh uni- 
versal. Almost all mankind is in its grip. Ofttimes it»' 
finds a home even in those who are nearing the goal of 
Illumination. One who is on the path to Life and Im- 
mortality, although he may have overcome the passion 
anger or an obstinate temper, mayi yet be in the grip of 
that other insidious destroyer, the sin of faultfinding. He 
who has not mastered this passion — the tendency to find 
fault with the habits and the ways oFothers — has ^till a. 



The Way to Life and Immortality 71 

deadly enemy lurking within. 

This is not to say that the teacher, or the guide, of a 
Neophyte should not tell him of weaknesses, and point out 
to him the best method of overcoming them. To do this 
is his duty. But, if a person is not the teacher of others 
nor in authority over them, then he has no right to criti- 
cize their actions. He has a greater work right at home — 
the task of mastering the passions that cause discomfort, 
disease, and death to himself. 

To give place to any of the destructive passions, means 
that we are, for the time being at least, living the life of 
death. While we may be earnestly groping for the light, 
•AT are, nevertheless, in the clutches of the grim reaper. 
And it is only the life of death, the life of destructive 
passions, that leads to death. 

Jesus came as a teacher of the truth ; but he went 
further than this. Others before him, other great philoso- 
phers, had taught the truth. But Jesus lived the truth, he 
demonstrated the fact that his teachings zvere the truth. 
Moreover, he explicitly emphasized that the life as he 
taught it can be lived by all who truly desire to live it. He 
al;-o demonstrated the power of the Christ over sin, death, 
and the grave. 

But, says the critic, if Jesus taue^ht that the enemy 
death could be overcome, why did he allow death to come 
to his body? Why did he not demonstrate power over the 
grave by preventing death from coming to him? 

It must be remembered that no man takes the third 
step on the ladder of advancement before he has taken 
the second. There are two ways by which man may 
prove the power of the Christ over death. One is to puri- 
fy and refine the body to such a degree that the soul may 
lay it down in death, leave it temporarily, then return and 
take it up again. The other is to prevent death from 
coming to the body — that is, to prove that death is unnec- 
essary. The body may be so refined and purified that 



72 TiHE Way to Life and iMMORfALiTY 

its essences blend with, and become one with, the soul. 
Thus, body and soul ascend, or are translated, to the 
heavenly spheres without the necessity of the body's pass- 
ing through the ordinary stages of disintegration. 

Jesus could not demonstrate these two ways at the 
same time. He could demonstrate only the one or the 
other. And, as mankind was in ignorance concerning 
Ihe practical features of immortality, he had to demon- 
strate the lesser first. Thus, he proved that the Soul 
lives even after the death of the body and that it may 
claim the body as an instrument of communication on the 
human plane even after the experience called death. 

The seeker must bear in mind that it had long been 
prophesied that one was to come who would be able to 
give the life of the body, and, that, after a certain length 
of time, a time long enough to prove that the body was 
dead, he could take it up again. Jesus fulfilled this proph- 
ecy. 

Again, the seeker must remember, Jesus propbecied 
that a time was to come in which man could do even great- 
er things than he himself had done, a time in which man 
would demonstrate that death of body is unnecessary. Man 
may so live in harmony with natural and divine law that 
the body itself, together with the soul, may reach Immor- 
tality, and death will be unnecessary. 

The Illuminati and Soul Science teach this truth and 
the way to its fulfilment. They boldly and clearly claim 
that, if the teachings are faithfully followed, the saying 
of Jesus will be fulfilled, and man will eventually over- 
come the last great enemy death. But let it be emphasized 
that such power as this is not developed in a short time or 
by any crude, haphazard methods. No claim is made 
that all mankind may attain unto this power during this 
one incarnation, or even during any one incarnation. The 
majestic oak is not grown in a day or a night, neither is 
an Illumined Soul developed in a single life period. The 
gate of death must be passed through many times before 
man can assume power over its keeper. 

Let it be remembered that the carnal life, the life 
that indulges in deadly passions, alone leads to death. 
The life of virtue and constructive habits leads to Peace, 
Light, and Immortality. 



CHAPTER Six 

TRUTH^ AT FIRST, SEEMS HARD. 

The study of history reveals that every age has had 
its philosophers, Masters, Initiates, Saviors, who, having 
denied the self and followed the truth until they had 
reached Illumination of Soul, gave to the people the truths 
they had learned — truths gained not from books, but from 
experience and from actual living. 

Move than this, history reveals the mistake of many 
men and women, who were attracted to these philosophers 
or teachers under the false impression that they might 
themselves attain Mastership without living the life that 
leads to Mastership. They desired to come into possession 
of such power and such knowledge as these philosophers 
and Masters possessed ; but they were not willing to live 
the life that is required in order to gain possession of 
these powers. They had the mistaken notion that it is 
possible to obtain wisdom and power while still following 
a life of sin and death. In their foolish and carnal minds, 
they thought it possible to come into possession of truth, 
wisdom, understanding, power, and all other desirable 
things, by simply believing, or by a mere formal faith. 
They failed to recognize the fact that man cannot come 
into possession of anything legitimately, no matter what 
its nature, unless he is willing and ready either to work 
for it or to deny himself in some way or to do that which 
is required in order to receive. 

Truth, in the beginning, seems hard. Truth says, 
Thus shalt thou do in order to receive. And, unless we 
are willing to accept the dictates of Truth and Wisdom, 



74 The Way to Life and iMMORTALitY' 

v/e shall not receive, rather, zve cannot receive. For Truth 
and Wisdom and Power set their own price ; and only he 
receives who pays the price in full in advance. 

Indeed, it is possible to gain possession of some pow- 
ers through might, but they turn to bitter fruit in the 
end. No man can retain that which he did not receive 
legitimately. If he attempts to get and to hold in any il- 
legitimate way, although he may enjoy possession for a 
time, the final results are always undesirable. 

Thus, it has been the record of all times that there 
are those who think to gain possession of Truth, Wisdom, 
and Povv^er, by some easy method, "by climbing up some 
other way." They go to a great Master and demand of 
him Truth, Wisdom, and Power. They listen attentively 
to his instructions, and then try to use the truth without 
living it. They gain a superficial comprehension of the 
Master's words, and undertake to apply it to life's needs, 
only to find that it evades their grasp, it is not theirs. 

Truth belongs to him alone who earns it by the price 
of becoming. Truth is not an acquisition gained through 
mere intellectual effort. Knowledge of truth is the result 
of becoming, the result of being, the result of living in 
harmony zvith the lazvs of truth. Knowledge of truth 
is the result of Interior Unfoldment. It is the natural 
result of spiritual growth. 

The true teacher or Master understands these things. 
lie knows that truth cannot be obtained in any super- 
ficial way. And when he places before the people the 
choice of two things — either to live and to have or not to 
have— people turn away from him and seek elsewhere. 
They believe that there is some easy path to possession ; 
but, alas, they find when life is spent that they were in 
quest of that which does not exist, and that the Law is 
absolute, which says, "Thus must thou do, if thou de- 
sirest to possess." 

In the time of Jesus, it was not different from the prev-* 



THE Way to Life and Immortality 75' 

ious centuries, centuries when Egypt was great, when its 
Priests ruled the world, and ruled it well, when men 
thought more of God and His blessings than they did even 
in the time of Jesus. And when the Master Jesus taught 
that physical death is unnecessary, the people would not 
believe it. Many of the disciples, those who had witnessed 
the wonderful works of the Master, turned and said, 
"This is a hard saying. Who can hear it?" 

And w-h)'? Simply because they were not ready or 
willing to accept the great truth. The race belief could 
not even accept Immortality of Soul, or life after death 
of the body, how much less was it able to accept the doc- 
trine that advocates immortality of body? Thus, the peo- 
ple turned away from Jesus and from his teachings. And, 
on account of this unbelief, this turning away, this re- 
fusal to accept the truth because it seemed hard and de- 
manded something of them, they missed not only immor- 
tality of body but immortality of Soul as well. 

Nor is it different in the present day. Many come 
to the lUuminati for instructions who already believe in 
the Immortality of the Soul; but they are unwilling to 
apply the teachings to their own needs. They are unwilling 
to live in obedience to the Law of Interior Illumination, 
and in their own experience to prove the Soul's reality. 
They demand some outward manifestation of power, aye, 
even demand a vision of the Heavenly Fire before they 
are willing to obey the heavenly vision. 

In this, they forget the fact that the laborer is not 
paid before he has labored. They forget that God forces 
no man either to accept or to believe, that Lie forces no 
man to do, but that He gives all men free-vvMll to do as 
they please, although He attaches the penalty of not doing, 
as well as the rev.'ard of doing. It is a fact that God 
forces no man to accept the Divine Truth, He forces no 
man to seek Immortality or freedom from disease. Yet 
it is equally a fact that He gives no man that which he 



76 The Wa¥ to Uife and iMMORfALif? 

has not earned. Neither does He show man signs and 
wonders in order to make him believe and Hve. On the 
contrary, He plainly teaches through the Masters and the 
Initiates that man should not seek for signs and wonders, 
but that he must live and hf. 

Again and again did Jesus try to teach the multitude 
that physical death is unnecessary. But, in the end, he 
found that none would accept the hard saying. They 
simply left him and followed those who showed them an 
easier way of living. Even those who were continually 
with the Master found it difficult to accept the doctrine 
of immortality of the body. They found it impossible to 
comprehend the teaching that the Master was to lay down 
his body and take it up again, demonstrating without a 
doubt that there is no death to those that live the life. 

At the end, when the multitudes had forsaken him, 
he attempted to teach the truth to his own disciples by 
saying, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my 
words, he shall not see death." 

This is indeed a hard saying. This is the saying 
which the multitudes, aye, even the few, were not ready 
to accept in the time of Jesus. Nor will they accept it 
at the present time. 

An easy saying indeed, that man may obtain and 
possess through mere belief even though continuing in a 
life of carnality and selfishness. No such saying did the 
Master Jesus ever utter. A belief that permits one to live 
the life of sin, ignorance, and error is not a true belief. 
That only deserves the name of faith which stimulates ac- 
tivity and endeavor to realize the fruits of faith. Faith 
is indeed necessary, but living according to the require- 
ments of faith is also necessary. "Keeping the word" is 
necessary in order to obtain the results of the promise, 
which are, freedom from disease, ultimately freedom from 
death, an Immortality that includes both body and soul. 
Much^ however, remains to be accomplished and realized 



The Way to Life and Immortality 77 

in man's experience before immortality of body and soul 
can be attained. Even to overcome the race belief in the 
necessity of death is a wonderful achievement. 

In its highest phase, life is an unfoldment. First of 
all, man is of the earth, earthy, and, from the earth, re- 
ceives his strength. The rose, also, is of the earth, and 
from the earlh receives its strength. But the rose has no 
power of choice, no power to resist the law that demands 
it to become something more than a bush of thorns. The 
rose is under natural law, which is under, and in obedience 
to Divine Law. And the rose must fulfil its destiny. 

Though man is a prototype of the rose, he has free- 
will to accept the Law of Destiny or to reject it. I"or 
this reason, the vast multitudes go no further than the 
bush-of-thorn state. They are of the earth, earthly, and 
W'ill not accept the truth. Nor will they live the life that 
enables them to pass through the stages that lead to a rose 
in full bloom. Gradually must they each one pass through 
the stages of growth that correspond to the parts of the 
rose bush. The stalk v/ithin must come forth. The bud 
must appear on the stalk. The bud must open into a full 
blown rose. In the case of man, the rose must remain 
open without the falling of petals and leaves. Man be- 
comes an Illuminated, Immortal, God Conscious being. 

This is the Law. It is a hard saying. Few are will- 
ing to accept it. It is a truth nevertheless, a truth that all 
may accept and reap the rewards of living in harmony 
with it. It will bind Immortality of Soul to those who ac- 
cept it now ; and, eventually, it will result in immortality 
of body and soul to those who overcome the race belief 
that death is a necessity, and who substitute in its place 
the conviction that our God is a God of life and the Giver 
of Life, Light, and Immortality. 

What is the argument of the multitudes against the 
doctrine of immortality of the whole man? 

The same today as in the time of Jesus, "Abraham 



78 The Way to Life and Immortality' 

is dead, and the prophets. Is man greater than these?" 

Because man has died and continues to die, is no 
iproof that it is necessary to die. Because, once upon a 
time, it was necessary to carry freight by means of horse 
and cart, is no reason that it cannot now be carried either 
by boat or by a system of rails. But, before freight was 
actually transported by modern methods, only the very 
few would accept the possibility of its being done in any 
other way than that to which they were accustomed. And, 
when the better way was finally proved and demonstrat- 
ed, even then, by the many, it was regarded tlie work of 
the evil one. So hard is it for man to accept the new, 
though better way ! No wonder it is hard for man to be- 
lieve that anything but death is in store for him, so sTfong 
are the fetters of a long-standing race belief ! 

The multitudes demand signs and wonders. They 
will not accept the truth unless demonstrated in some 
miraculous manner. And, even then, when a man, freed 
from the race belief in death, begins to live according to 
the truth, the vast numbers will say, 'Others have lived 
to good old age and then died, and so will he die.' Thus, 
it will be centuries before the doctrine fully and freely 
taught by Jesus and the other philosophers will be accept- 
ed. In the meantime, the few will accept the life that 
leads to immortality of Soul. In time, they return to the 
earth to demonstrate the life that leads to im.mortality of 
body. Eventually, the final victory is won. 

In the beginning, truth is hard to accept ; and to follow 
the truth is also hard in the beginning. But, when man 
does accept the truth and begins to live it, and when the 
results of such living begin to show, then does he know 
that, although Truth is an exacting mistress, she is, nev- 
ertheless, one that gives ample returns for her exactitude. 

"Keep my word, and ye shall never see death." This 
is not merely the teaching of Jesus but it is the divine com- 
iTpxand. Live the life. Live in harmony with the Pivin? 



The Way to Life and Immortality, 79 

Law, and then you will reap the benefits, the rewards, 
ci such living. 

But this we must understand and always bear in mind, 
that just as belief of itself is not sufficient, so is right 
living of itself insufficient. For, were living alone~ suf- 
ficient, then the animal of the field, living in harmony with 
nature, would have continuous life. But such is not the 
case. Faith and living are both necessary. Neither can 
be complete by itself. Living makes the possibility pos- 
sible. Belief, or faith, so charges, magnetizes, or AEth- 
izes, the Soul that it, having become God Conscious, 
raises the vibrations of the body, become pure through 
right living, to the Immortal plane. 

For this reason, even many who have followed the 
]\ith, and lived the life, though receiving Immortality of 
Soul, yet had to pass to the Beyond in order to realize im- 
mortality of the entire being, and this, simply because the 
mind and consequently the soul accepted the race belief 
that death is necessary in order to reach final immortality. 
And this belief, in spite of right living, made death of body 
necessary for them. 

Thus, the Illuminati in their Soul Science, the Way 
to Immortality, teach that neither faith nor right living 
alone is sufficient in order to reach the highest goal of 
achievement, but that understanding of truth and faith. in 
the truth as well as living in harmony with the truth are 
necessary in order to know as the Gods knew and in 
order to reach final immortality. 

Unlike other doctrines regarding immortality, the Il- 
luminati do not teach that man, in attaining the final goal, 
loses his individuality and once again becomes part of the 
Godhead. They teach definitely and emphatically that 
man becomes an absolute, conscious individuality, free 
from all that is carnal and gross, like God, though not 
God. 

Nor is this doctrine of the immortality of the whole 



80 The Way to Life and Immortality 

man without examples. There have been those who walk- 
ed with God^ — that is, had faith in God and in His prom- 
ises and lived accordingly — who were taken body and soul, 
into the high heavens, and did not taste of death. Of these 
are Enoch, Elijah, and Moses, the great Law Giver. These 
believed as the ancient Priests taught. They believed in 
the word of God, in His promises. Through this belief 
and through the life they lived, they were able to fulfil the 
promises made by God. 

So can all men do. But it is necessary for the hard 
truth to be believed, for the hard saying to be accepted. 
It is imperative that man shall not run after signs and 
wonders, after manifestations of others. It is imperative 
that he shall be the actor instead of being acted upon as 
a machine is acted upon by a master intellect, and that he 
sliall become the Son of God through faith and through 
works, through belief and through living according to his 
belief. 

God's Law is eternal. It is the Divine Law, absolute 
and never failing. Though we may think of this Law as 
a hard truth, nevertheless, when we become willing instru- 
ments, we find that it is not a hard life to live, that it is 
only seemingly so. It may be hard in the beginning, but 
w^e will soon learn that no good thing is forbidden to man. 

To repeat: the perfect life is first of all faith 
accompanied by works. But we m^ust be on our guard lest 
our faith becomes centered in personalities, which at best 
have weaknesses ; and, if we are not ever watchful, we will 
judge them by their weaknesses and forget their strength. 
The perfect life is a hfe of service. It is not mere belief, 
a negative condition of existence, but, first and last, a 
courageous struggle to be. Finally, life is a growth, a be- 
coming, an unfoldment — a growth that begins on the ma- 
terial plane, gradually reaching the state of consciousness 
in which we realize that the carnal life is not the true 
Jife, finally leading to the state of consciousness in which 



The Way to Life and Immortality 81 

the individuality merges into, and identifies itself with, the 
Divine yet retains its individual consciousness and iden- 
tity. Thus, man becomes an immortal, deathless being, 
Son of the living God. 

Such is the destiny of man. Such a standard do the 
Illuminati teach. Soul Science points out the Way to 
Life, Light, and Immortality of the entire man. 



82 The Way to Life and Immortality 



CHAPTER SEVEN 

man's duty is to glorify god. 

A question of importance is whether God, in creat- 
ing man or anything else, did so with the intention of 
destroying the product of his creation. Or, put the ques- 
tion thus : do we, though at present but finite beings, create 
a thing with the intention of destroying it. 

Search ourselves as we will, we come to the one con- 
clusion that in making anything we do it because it seems 
good to do so, either for our own benefit or for the bene- 
fit of another. Moreover, having given it existence, we 
do not think of destroying it; though, at times, as our 
knowledge increases, we may desire to change or to im- 
prove our handiwork. If finite man in his efforts is 
prompted by altruistic motives, must it not be the more true 
that God, being infinite and having created all things per- 
fect, does not desire to destroy his workmanship nor to 
make changes in it except such changes as come through 
normal, natural growth ? This general statement being ad- 
mitted as true, we must conclude that it is not the' idivine 
plan and purpose for either the soul or the body of man 
to be destroyed. 

Why, then, is the body of man subject to death and 
decay? 

To this there is but one rational answer. Because 
man, through disobedience to the divine command to be- 
come like God, makes it impossible for the body to con- 
tinue existence ; and, in this way, he himself and not his 
Creator is responsible for death of body or for mortaliiy 
of soul. If this reasoning is correct (and who can ques- 



8i The Way to Life and Immortality' 

tion it?) we can come to but one conclusion — that is, the 
body of man was not created by God in order to be de- 
stroyed, nor was the soul destined by divine plan to eternal 
torment, neither did the divine purpose predetermine that 
either soul or body should be blotted out of existence. 

To give a positive statement: man is created in the 
likeness of the Creator, endowed with the Creator's attri- 
butes and faculties. It is the divine purpose that he shall 
develop his inherent qualities in obedience to the Divine 
Law and that he shair so live as to become like God, his 
Creator, in every way. Furthermore, it is the divine pur- 
pose that he shall so live that the body may become pure 
and holy, truly a temple of the living God. 

This it is to glorify God — so to live that the soul may 
reflect the Divine Image through a life of humble service, 
so to live that the body may become a temple wherein God 
may take up His permanent abode. This is the duty of 
man. This is the end and the aim of life. Further ailso, 
to glorify God results in happiness, peace, and content- 
ment. When man comes to understand this principle and 
to live in harmony with the divine standard set for him, 
then will life here on earth become what it should be, what 
God intended it to be. This is the culmination, the ulti- 
mate goal, of glorifying God — to attain immortality of 
body and soul. 

Nor is this doctrine contradictory in any way to II- 
luminati principles elsewhere advocated. It has long been 
taught that man may so live as to attain Illumination and 
Immortality of Soul, and Consciousness of God while in 
the flesh. This attainment is the result of a long-continued 
process that extends, it may be, through lives on earth oft- 
repeated. At the experience called death, the soul, having 
attained self-consciousness in partial degree, passes to the 
soul realm to remain for a time, with the privilege of re- 
turning to earth and completing the work that must be ac- 
complished while in the flesh. This, the Lc^w of Reincjir- 



The Way to Life and Immortality 85 

nntion, has been clearly explained as the method by which 
man advances on the Path to Christhood and Conscious- 
ness of Immortality. These principles are by no means 
contradictory to the doctrine of immortality of body and 
soul. They are, rather, stepping stones along the way, 
wliich lead to the higher, fuller doctrine of immortality of 
the whole man. They are subordinate to, yet in harmony 
with, the doctrine of complete immortality. 

The doctrine of complete immortality advances the 
standard that the soul of man may find its heaven, its 
millenium, here on earth without going forth and without 
returning. The ideal of working for a far-off heaven, of 
hoping to attain peace and happiness in the far-off future 
is no longer attractive to mankind. To look forward to a 
state of being in the Beyond or in time to come, which the 
soul of man shall attain after death and there enjoy, ceases 
to satisfy. Men desire to attain the knowledge, the wis- 
dom, and the power that shall enable them to overcome 
ignorance, sin, and disease here and now. They desire to 
become victors now and to realize that they are now on the 
Path to Mastership. Men need to realize that today is a 
part of the Hereafter, that today is a link in the chain of 
Eternity, that today determines the status of tomorrow. 

Men are beginning to understand that disease is the 
result of ignorance, error, and sin, that illness is the re- 
sult of disobeying, or of living contrary to, some law of 
health. It is becoming more and more a prevalent idea 
that life in the soul realm, life in the Beyond, is merely a 
continuation of the present life. As we are now, so shall 
wc be then. The desires that hold the body now will hold 
the soul where there is no body. The habits that enchain 
and enslave on the earth plane will bind and hamper on 
the soul plane. Such ideas as these are becoming every 
day more deeply engrained in the race consciousness 
That the present determines the future is even now a race 
conviction. That ignorance, error, sin, disease — aye, even 



86 The Way to Life and iMMORTALitY 

death — are conditions to be overcome, not conditions which 
demand passive resignation, is fast becoming a race behef. 

The race consciousness has too long been content with 
a rehgion that has unduly emphasized helpless submission 
to a divine providence, passive resignation to a Higher 
Will, blind surrender to an unseen ruling power. But the 
tide has turned. Such teaching ceases to give comfort. 
The tendrils and the "feelers" of the race consciousness 
are turning toward the light and are reaching out for a 
positive, active, virile religion. The multitudes are seek- 
ing light and true understanding. They are seeking the 
truth that will guide them aright. They are tired of be- 
ing admonished to be submissive and resigned. They are 
tired of being the plaything of unseen forces. They hunger 
to become creators and actors and directors. They hunger 
for the truth and the wisdom and the power that will en- 
able them to become creative agents and active forces. 

On all sides are evidences of ignorance, error, sin, dis- 
ease, suffering, sorrow, and death. Under mysterious and 
unaccountable "ministrations of providence," man has 
known no better philosophy than to bow in submission, and 
to "bide a wee, and dinna fret." But this ceases to satisfy. 
Now he asks. Why. Now he seeks the cause of "painful 
ministrations of providence"; and, having discovered the 
cause, he seeks to put forth active measures to prevent, 
and to remove causes. Hitherto, he has glorified God by a 
negative, blind, inert submission. Now he seeks to glorify 
God by the use of conscious, deliberate, definite, painstak- 
ing effort to fulfil the Divine Purpose and to realize the 
Divine Plan. Hitherto, he has glorified God by saying, 
"Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done." Now he 
seeks to glorify God by saying: "I will that thy Will be 
done through me. I will to become an active instrument 
in thy hands. I put forth conscious, deliberate effort to 
direct the Christ Potencies into channels of useful ser- 
yice." 



The Way to Life and Immortality 87 

The many have been saying, "We want to beheve; but 
you must first show us some manifestation which will en- 
able us to believe." The day is well-nigh at hand, how- 
ever, when the demand for outer demonstration of truth 
will be changed into the determination, "I will live the life 
that leads to inner realization of truth." 

It is not reasonable to expect the doctrine of full and 
complete immortality to be accepted immediately and in a 
short time and by great numbers. The blotting out of the 
old belief and the establishment of a new in the race con- 
sciousness is at best a slow, gradual process. Nor is it 
necessary to look at the ultimate in order to accept the 
higher truths. One may accept truth that tends eventually 
toward the ultimate without striving after or even desiring 
the ultimate. One may not desire bodily immortality, one 
may not be attracted by the thought of heaven on earth. 
But who is there in the vast multitudes that does not de- 
sire freedom from disease and suffering? W^ho is there 
that does not desire an understanding of causes? Who 
does not desire freedom from ignorance, error, sin, and 
suffering? To desire even this, and to accept the truth 
that leads to this freedom, is an important step toward 
breaking down long-standing race beliefs and establishing 
iii the race consciousness higher and purer motives. 

True sincere desire for freedom from ignorance, error, 
sin, disease, and suffering causes one to accept the truth, 
and to live the life, that lead to freedom from ignorance, 
error, sin, disease, and suffering. Living in harmony with 
the truth that sets free necessitates obeying the Divine 
I. aw, the Law that leads ultimately to full immortality, 
lo believe the truth in regard to the cause of undesirable 
cimditions in life, and to live in such wise that desirable 
conditions shall become ours, puts one in harmony with, 
and enables one to cooperate with, the Law that leads to 
the highest goal, even though one may not be striving to 
rt:ach the highest goal, aye, even though one may not con- 



8S The Way to Life and Immortality 

sider the ultimate as at all desirable. 

We must remember that the Law is, that the Law in- 
cludes and covers all that is, that the lesser is no less and 
no more than the beginning of the greater. For as above, 
so below ; as below, so above ; as the lesser, so is the great- 
er. To accept the lesser and to strive after it, clears the 
way for the greater. Thus, step by step, degree by de- 
gree, the race belief advances, and the race consciousness 
seeks higher planes, and the race conscience takes on purer 
motives and loftier ideals, until, eventually, belief in full 
immortality is accepted by mankind as the highest, and, 
withal, the most desirable, goal. 

And what means obedience to the Law, both natural 
and divine: 

It means ultimately a perfect body. It means a per- 
fect, creative, virile mind. And the two working in har- 
mony produce the perfect Soul, the Christos, the Soul 
that is conscious of Christhood and Mastership. 

Some object to the word Christ, saying that the world 
has had enough of the Christ teachings, and that there is 
a demand for something more advanced. Such must un- 
derstand that there is nothing greater than the Christ Prin- 
ciple. Though another name may be used by which to 
designate it, yet the power that the Christ Principle rep- 
resents, ever remains a mighty reality, the most power- 
ful factor known to man. Man may call himself the rein- 
carnation of an ancient god or even a new incarnation di- 
rect from the Godhead, yet the eternal element in his be- 
ing is ever the same, no matter what name may be ap- 
plied to it. Nio man has yet lived to the full the teachings 
of Jesus, the Christ. Therefore, the world can cite no 
perfect example to represent the teachings. Consequently, 
the claim that they have lost their power is to manifest 
gross ignorance in respect to the truth contained in them, 
and simply indicates superficial knowledge. The Christ 
te^ichings, in their mystical sense, have never been really 



The Way to Life and Immortality 89 

understood and believed, much less have they ever been 
lived and demonstrated. 

What then is it to become a Christ vSoul? What is 
it to know the Christ, not as a personality, but as the life 
cf man? 

To know the Christ is to have attained Illumination of 
Soul. To become the Christ Soul means that, through a 
system of living in obedience to natural and^ divine law, 
man attains consciousness of the Christ, and of God, the 
Father. To have reached this state of being is to have 
freed the self of grosser passions, is to have made the 
body whole. Moreover, it is the state of consciousness in 
v/hich the soul says with Jesus, "I am the resurrection and 
the life." In this state of being not only does man live, 
but he lives on a higher plane than heretofore. Born not 
only of his mother, in pain and in sorrow of the flesh, but 
born of God into a, higher state of being, he can truly say, 
"I am the resurrection and the life." The divine spark of 
a soul within him has been nurtured and fed until it has 
become a brilliant Flame of Love, Understanding, and 
I'ow^er. He has seen the Fire, he has beheld the heavenly 
vision. Does he not know that he shall surely live and not 
die? 

All this belongs to him who has believed the truth and 
has lived in harmony with the truth and has obeyed the 
Lav/ of truth. Even though man may still cling to the 
race belief in the necessity of death, yet Illumination of 
Soul and Consciousness of Immortality of Soul, together 
with the fruits of such consciousness, are indeed desirable. 
Whatever may be one's thought in regard to bodily im- 
mortality, Consciousness of Immortality of Soul is a most 
desirable attainment. It allies one to God, the Father, 
Creator of all — ''Him in whom we live and move and have 
cur being." 

It was the Christ Principle in Jesus that gave utter- 
ance to the words, "Lie that Hveth and believeth in me 



9'3 The Way to Life ajji) ImmoWalitv" 

shall never die." This saying gives no ground for center- 
ing our faith in a personality. It gives no basis for the 
doctrine that belief in the historic character of Jesus or 
even belief that he was the Son of God in itself insures 
salvation of soul. He that liveth and believeth as Jesus 
lived and believed, he that liveth and believeth in the 
Christ — he shall never die. Such is the promise. If we 
live and serve humanity as Jesus did, not merely in slavish 
imitation of him, but in obedience to the Divine Law which 
ruled his life and which also centers in our own conscious- 
ness, then we shall find life eternal ; and, freed f rpm er- 
roneous race beliefs, we shall not know death. 

Man has been following the letter and not the spirit 
of the Law. Man has been believing in the personality of 
Jesus. Some indeed have believed in the existence of the 
Soul, and in the Christ; but this belief, though good, has 
availed nothing. Even this, though a correct belief so far 
as it goes, can bring no satisfactory results. To believe in 
the personality of some historic character, no matter how 
divine the character may be, is not sufficient. The belief 
that brings results in one's life is belief in the Law demon- 
strated by the personality of some ideal historic charac- 
ter. Have faith in the Law by which and through which 
that particular personality was enabled to reach Divinity 
and Immortality of Soul, and to become conscious of God, 
the Father — this is the Divine command. 

This is to glorify God — to establish faith in a Divine 
Principle, a Divine Promise, a Divine Command, a Divine 
Law. This is the significance of the mission of the Master 
Jesus. In his personality and in his individuality was ex- 
emplified and manifested the Divine Law, in order that, 
through this exemplification, the Law might be accepted 
by others as a guide. It is for others to obey the Law as 
he obeyed it. It is for others to believe the truth and to 
live the truth as he believed and lived, and, through such 
obedience and through such a life, to reap the rewards and. 



The Way to tiFE and Immortality 91 

the fruits. 

The soul is deathless as is He deathless who created 
the soul. God cannot manifest without a medium through 
which to manifest. Man is the medium through which 
God manifests Himself. Likewise, the soul cannot mani- 
fest without a medium through which to manifest. The 
body of man is the medium through wdiich the soul mani- 
fests. It is just as reasonable to claim that God, in order 
to save Himself, must destroy man through which He 
manifests as to claim that man must, in order to save the 
soul, destroy the body through which the soul manifests. 

God destroys no man. Man, through disobedience to 
the Divine Law, may destroy himself. In like manner, 
death of the body is not a necessity; but man may, through 
disobedience, cause its death. Not that anything is gained 
through its death, not that the soul will be more sublime 
or more advanced. Nevertheless, because of the race be- 
lief in the necessity of death, he takes it for granted that 
the body must die. Consequently, it does die. In time to 
come, however, belief in the possibility of Life Eternal 
w^ill become so established in the race consciousness that 
man will take it for granted that death of the body will 
not be his. Consequently he need not know death of body. 

Death of body does not add to exaltation of soul. On 
the contrary, the more man purilies the body, the more 
perfect the body becomes through obedience, the more 
does he glorify God in the Highest. And, in like manner, 
in proportion as he purifies the body and perfects it, in 
that degree is the sou! exalted and made purer and cleaner 
until, after Baptism with Fire, it reaches to heaven and 
comes into conscious relationship with the Creator. 

Thus, it stands that, whether physical immortality is 
desired or not, it is the duty of man so to live as to glorify 
God and to bring the Soul to Illumination. In so doing, 
lie is actually living the life that, if continued, ultimate- 
ly results in complete and full immortality and places him 



92 The Way to Life and iMMORTALit? 

on the plane of consciousness that says, "I am the resur- 
rection and the Hfe." The consciousness of Life Eternal 
he guards as a sacred trust and confesses to no man. But 
his life, in its fruits of service and good deeds, daily tes- 
tifies to others of the power of the Christ Consciousness. 
^This tends toward the perfection of the human race. 

This is life, life in its higher and most holy manifes- 
tation. This is science. In every case in which the Law 
is faithfully obeyed, results are the same. This is philoso- 
phy. This is religion. It concerns not only the soul but 
the body as well. It is that which God has tried to teach 
His children, lo, these many ages. 

Jesus, having become the Christ, demonstrated that 
life remains even after death of body. He demonstrated 
to those who believed that man may so live as to retain 
consciousness, so live as to have more power, after the 
change called death. To demonstrate this fact was the 
culmination of his mission. But he taught that which is 
even greater, that which he could not himself demonstrate. 
He could demonstrate only the one truth, that life and 
consciousness of soul continue after death and that man 
may, through the Christ Power, take up the body 
after it had passed through the change called death. But 
he taught the greater truth, namely, that man may so live 
as to prevent death to the body, that man may find life 
eternal, life without change, life as God intended it to 
be. To demonstrate this possibility is to be classed among 
"the greater things" which Jesus said his followers should 
do. 

"He that believeth and liveth in me" — that is, he who 
has faith in the God-given Law and who lives according 
to the Divine Law — shall be free from sin, disease, and ul- 
timately, shall demonstrate power over the last great enemy 
death. Thus shall man glorify God by living the life 
God intended him to live, the end of which is happiness, 
peace, and contentment. This is the teaching of Soul 
Science, the Way to Life, Light, and Immortality. 



CHAPTER EIGHT 

COD IS EVER WITH THOSE WHO ARE WITH HIM. 

If man rightly appreciated the saying, "God helps 
those who help themselves," he would make greater effort 
toward the accomplishment of the things he desires to ac- 
complish. This saying means that God is with those who 
are with Him. Although He is not against those who are 
not with Him in thought and in deed, yet He is not able 
TO help them. 

In its literalness, this interpretation may seem to por- 
tray God as a personal being who arbitrarily refuses to 
help those who do not help themselves. The expression, 
hnvv'ever, is to be thought of, rather, as a literary cloak 
which covers a general, universal truth. Those who help 
themselves, by that very act, open their natures to receive 
tlie forces and the potencies of the Infinite. By that very 
attitude of mind, they admit into their being the qualities 
that make for success in the channels of their endeavor. 
By that attitude of mind, they come into harmony with 
the Divine Law of their own Being; and, in so far as they 
do truly help themselves, to that extent do they obey the 
I>aw of their own Being. 

It follows that the best way to help ourselves is to 
seek the Kingdom of God within our own Being and to 
cooperate with the Law of Divinity within ourselves. In 
the accomplishme'nt of any worthy purpose, the first step 
of importance is to seek the Kingdom within, and there 
to receive instructions which will enable us to work in 
harmony with the Divine Law. Having received knowl- 
edge of truth and having faith in the promise that God 



94 The Way to Life and Immortality^ 

helps those who help themselves, it remains to put forth 
effort in harmony with the knowledge received, and to 
work according to one's faith. This is to work in harmony 
with the Will of God. To work in accordance .with the 
Divine Will is to be with God. And God, being just and 
absolute, can not do otherwise than be with us. The result 
will be that we shall, in the end, obtain those things which 
we desire, those things which we are putting forth effort to 
obtain. This is true, no matter what our desire ^ay be, 
whether for health of body, mind, and soul, or for free- 
dom from sorrow and suffering, or for Immortality of 
Soul, or for Immortality of Soul and body. To be sure, 
freedom from sorrow and suffering must come through 
the knowledge that things which ordinarily cause sorrow 
and suffering are experiences necessary to make us more 
nearly perfect. This knowledge of itself alleviates suffer- 
ing and enables us to accept it with fortitude and to turn 
all experiences in life to good account. 

In the effort to attain perfection we are not alone. 
For, on every side, there are those who are on ithe way 
to perfection, very many of whom have advanced to an 
appreciable degree of perfection in body, mind, and soul. 
Seldom, however, do we find one who is perfect in all three. 
But those who have partially attained perfection in any 
one department of life serve as examples and as inspira- 
tion to others. The perfect in body proves to us that per- 
fection of body is a possibility in which all men may share. 
Perfection of mind or intellectual achievement proves that 
it is possible for others to be mentally perfect. Perfection 
of Soul, or Illumination of Soul, or Sonship with God, 
proves to us that all things are possible to him who honors 
the Christ in his own life and character. 

One should, hov/ever, go a step beyond this, and 
aim at threefold perfection — perfection of mind, soul, and 
body. The Illuminati hold the standard of perfection in 
ihe three departnients of man's nature, and the harmoniQUs 



The Way to Life and Immortality, 95 

cooperation of each with the other. The ideal is unity out 
of the trinity, one through the three. 

Through knowledge of the Divine Law and through 
obedience to it, we free the mind from those thoughts and 
those teachings which hamper, and which prevent it from 
greater achievement. In the place of undesirable thoughts 
and erroneous teachings, we feed the mind constructive, 
wholesome thoughts and ideals, which develop all three de- 
partments of man's nature. Through freeing the mind of 
conditions which hamper and bind it to earth, through the 
establishment of powerful, constructive thoughts, we build 
the healthy body, the enlightened mind, and the illumined 
soul. 

God helps those who, seeing that His work is perfect 
in certain departments, follow the example of those who 
have attained. God helps those who apply to their own 
personality the principles and the laws demonstrated by 
tliose who have attained. Gradually and in natural order, 
the personality becomes the individuality, which, in turn, 
gives way to Sonship — Sonship with the Father. The fact 
that some have attained perfection is proof that others may 
attain. In the beginning, all things, including man, were 
perfect; but man, having free-will, has brought imperfec- 
tion into the vmiverse. But now again men are awakening 
10 the truth; and, understanding the Divine Law, and see- 
iiig perfect works, they are beginning to pattern after them. 

True, accomplishment is not in a moment. It will re- 
ciuire time to bring about satisfactory results. But, unlike 
all else in nature, man can exchange the carnal self for the 
s])iritual self within a comparatively short time. Even his 
body can be reconstructed, and every cell thereof replaced 
v/ith a new one, wdthin a period of less than one year. 
In animal life, to be sure, there is a constant replacement 
of old cells by new; but, in human life, there is the added 
responsibility of charging the new cells with thoughts of 
regeneration, perfection, and dcathlessncss. Nothing. else 



96 The Way to Life and Immortality 

in nature has such possibilities as has man. This in itself 
is indication of the mighty responsibility that falls upon 
him, a responsibility proportionate to the possibilities God 
has given him. 

The main thing, at the present time, is to awaken man 
to his great possibilities, and to arouse in him an earnest 
desire to attain the highest of which he is capable. He 
must realize the fact that the life he is now living is not 
the true life. Nor is it the life that brings the greatest 
power and the greatest freedom from suffering and other 
undesirable conditions. The life of ease and sin and pleas- 
ure may, indeed, seem to be the easiest life. In reality, how- 
ever, it is not the easiest. Man has been deluded by the 
thought that the downward road is easier to travel, that 
things which are evil are easier to do, that destructive habits 
are more pleasurable than constructive and power-produc- 
ing habits. This, however, is far from true. This, like be- 
lief in the necessity of death, is a race delusion which has 
in fact no foundation. 

There is another race error kindred to this which must 
be uprooted from man's nature, the error of thinking that 
all things which give pleasure and joy are of the evil one 
and must not be indulged in. Since man in normal con- 
dition is a pleasure-loving, joy-seeking being, he naturally 
and instinctively craves conditions which produce the sen- 
sation of joy and pleasure. Going to extrem.e in gratify- 
ing his fondness for pleasure, or indulging in sense-delights 
contrary to nature's laws, he has reaped the reaction, or the 
after-effects, of sorrow and suffering. Consequently, he 
concludes that those things which give pleasure and joy are 
in themselves wrong. This, too, is an erroneous conclu- 
sion. Sorrow and suffering are due, not to the gratifica- 
tion of sense-pleasure, but to excess or to abuse or to ab- 
normal conditions. The falsity of thinking that joy-pro- 
ducing conditions are of the evil one must be eliminated 
Irpm man's thought. 



The Way to Life and Immortality 97 

God helps those who help themselves. God helps 
those who try to /eliminate from their minds false concep- 
tions and erroneous standards. God is with those who 
try to free themselves from bondage to race errors. 

The Illuminati teach that God looks upon results and 
ultimate effects, and that He judges from the outcome and 
from the final tendency. He has not endowed man with 
pleasure-loving inclinations for the sake of taunting him 
through non-gratification or for the sake of putting tempta- 
tion in his way as a means of testing his strength. Things 
w^hich give pleasure, joy, and happiness are not in them- 
selves evil. The gratification of sense delights is not neces- 
sarily productive of pain and sorrow, nor is it necessarily 
an evil. The demands of the physical nature are in them- 
selves legitimate. Aye, m^ore than this, they are requisites 
of spiritual growth^ They are agents of regeneration. They 
are necessary factors in refining and in purifying the physi- 
cal organism, which in turn acts as a refining and purifying 
agency in developm.ent of soul. 

Man must learn to help himself by seeking to root out 
of his nature the false impression that gratification of the 
senses is in itself sinful. God looks to see whether results 
are constructive or destructive, whether the end is sorrow, 
pain, or loss to the self or to any other creature. When 
results are good, constructive, and uplifting, there is no 
pleasure, no happiness, no enjoyment, which is prohibited, 
nor does it in any wise meet with the disapproval of the 
Creator. The understanding of this law, and a recognition 
of the fact that physical welfare and normal physical satis- 
faction are necessary to mental and spiritual welfare, gives 
to life a brighter hue and relieves the sombre effects of a 
perverted religious standard. Life would look far different 
to the vast multitudes if they could comprehend the dis- 
tinction between normal use of functions, which gives .hap- 
piness, and abnormal or perverted use, which results in 
pain and regret. It is only man and his acts, his ignorance, 



98 The Way to Life and Immortality 

and his foolish conception of hfe that bring pain, sorrow, 
and misery into the world. Life will seem worth the living 
when God helps man because he helps himself by eliminat- 
ing from his thought false impressions and false standards. 

God is not a Being that is trying to shoulder all the 
pain, sorrow, and suffering upon humankind. On the con- 
trary, He is a Being who is trying to help man to perfec- 
tion, to help him become truly man in order that he may 
become truly a god. It is the divine purpose that man, 
through evolving his own inherent possibilities, shall attain 
unto Godhood and Christship. The pain, sorrov/, and suf- 
fering which man experiences in life are not to be traced 
to God in any other sense than that' He has given him 
free-will; and, through perversion and misuse of his facul- 
ties, man has brought sorrow and suffering upon himself 
and upon others. He who seeks wisdom that he may make 
intelligent use of his free-will is helping himself in such a 
Avay that he can truly receive the help of God. God is with 
him who seeks wisdom and guidance. God is v/ith him 
who opens the channels of his being to the Divine Presence. 

Through the past centuries, God has permitted, aye, 
even ordered, perfect beings, men become perfect, to pass 
through the world in order to teach men the perfect way. 
But mankind has refused to listen to the voice of these great 
teachers. The last of the great Initiates who came to the 
earth not only taught Immortality of Soul but even demon- 
strated the possibility of laying dov/n the mortal physical 
body in death and of taking it up again at will. But it has 
required well-nigh tv/o thousand years for man actually to 
comprehend this possibility. It has required these cen- 
turies to enable man to understand this mystery. Now he 
is beginning to comprehend that not mere faith in a great 
Master will bring results, but that it is necessary to have 
faith in the Law which the Master obeyed in order to at- 
tain Mastership, and that it is necessary to obey the Law 
even as he obeyed it. Man may have a faith that precludes 



The Way to Life and Immortality 99 

the shadow of a doubt in a great A'laster. He may believe 
without wavering that another has attained Mastership, 
Godhood, and Christship. But what does this avail of 
practical value to man unless he realizes that it is accord- 
ing to the Divine purpose for himself and all men to attain 
the same state of Divinity? 

This is a race error that must be overcome — the belief 
that the Master Jesus was a miraculous exception to the 
possibilities of human life, that he was God come to the 
earth in a manner that transcends human endeavor. This 
error must be supplanted by the conviction that the Master 
Jesus was a perfect illustration of what all men may attain 
by obeying the Law of Lnmortality as he obeyed it. He 
stands as a perfect example, saying clearly to all. What I 
have done ye may do. It is the divine will and purpose 
for all men to strive to attain such Mastership as Jesus 
demonstrated. Striving to attain Christship is to insure 
the Presence of God. The Divine Presence overshadows 
and helps those who cherish for themselves the ideal of 
Christship and Supreme IMastery. Man works with God 
and is with God and reaps actual results when. he strives 
to live a life of service to others in harmony with the Christ 
Ideal. Aye, even he is working with God and is with God 
and reaps actual results, who strives to free himself from 
bondage to erroneous race beliefs. 

The Master Jesus did more than teach Immortality of 
Soul. He taught Immortality of body as well. But many 
centuries have been required to establish the plausibility of 
the doctrine of Immortality of Soul. So, also, many other 
centuries will be required to establish in the race conscious- 
ness the possibility of physical immortality. The race 
thought is thoroughly saturated with the belief that sin, 
suffering, sickness, sorrow, misery, and finally death are nec- 
essary. This belief is in every cell of the entire body. 
New cells in the process of rebuilding are charged with 
this same thought. Thus, body, mind, and soul are magnet- 



ICO The Way to Life and Immortality 

i/ed with thoughts of disease, suffering, fear, sorrow, and 
death. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Is it 
any wonder that }^ears and even centuries are required to 
transmute race errors into race truths? 

But the new age is at hand, the beginning is made. Be- 
hef in ImmortaHty of Soul, in the Fatherhood of God, and 
in Conscious Sonship with the Father is thoroughly estab- 
lished in the minds of many. Many are beginning to think 
and to live in harmony vv^ith this conviction. The fact that 
physical refinement and purification are necessary to the 
spiritual growth that leads to Conscious Sonship with God 
is fully understood and accepted by many. Thus, through 
the advanced thought and the higher understanding of the 
many, the race consciousness is being rapidly tinged and 
colored with the bright hues of belief in Immortality of 
vSoul. This proves that the time is ripe for spreading the 
doctrine of immortality of body. Only the few may be 
ready to comprehend and to accept it, but there must be 
a beginning sometime, somewhere, in the promulgation of 
every new aspect of truth. Those who are settled in their 
acceptance of Immortality of Soul are ready for the next 
step. Many are definitely meeting the requirements of a 
life that leads to Conscious Sonship with God. They are 
seeking manifestation of their own Sonship with the Father. 
They are practicing religion and philosophy in order to 
manifest to their own consciousness the Immortality of 
their own souls. Many have faced the Altar Fire and 
have gazed into the brilliant depths of their own Being, and, 
awe-inspired by the Divine Presence, have breathed upon 
their own consciousness the truth, 'T am the Resurrection 
and the Life." Upon many the Dove of Peace has alight- 
ed. To many the Invisible Voice has uttered the words : 
"Thou art my beloved son in whom I am well pleased." 

Such consciousness of the Divine Presence, such Real- 
ization of the Ineffable Light of Immortality, such mani- 
festation of Life Eternal, belongs to themselves alone — a. 



The Way to Life and Immortality 101 

sacred trust, which can not be communicated to others, a 
sacred reahty, which can not be imparted to the vast mul- 
titudes who cry out for signs and wonders. 

It is a truth of paramount importance that manifesta- 
tion of the Immortahty of the Soul can not be given to 
others, for the reason that man can not understand or see 
in others that which is not yet in himself. Though a man 
might have reached Illumination, though he might have 
brought forth his soul as a self-conscious entity, aye, even 
though the Holy Fire might become visible to those who 
have not yet reached Illumination, others would not be- 
lieve it nor credit his personal testimony. They would 
consider it a delusion of the senses and not an actual fact. 
I' or this reason it is an absolute truth that those zvlw de- 
mand of others a manifestation of the Soul, the Sacred 
fire, the Almighty God, are th.euiselves yet in darkness and 
io'ozv neither the Soul nor God. For this reason — because 
of their ozvn blindness and misapprehension of the truth — - 
they demand signs and wonders, manifestations and proofs. 
Their ozvii unbelief and their own- unzvorthiness have pre- 
zented them from bringing into manifestation the Divine 
I'lre zvithin themselves. 

Unless we seek and fmd within ourselves, we are im- 
able to understand, to see, and to comprehend that which 
is within others. Be it understood that men judge others 
not by what others arc, but by what they themselves feel, 
and by what they themselves are within their own con- 
sciousness. It is a Divine Law that man can not under- 
stand that wdiich he is not himself. He can not compre- 
hend the forgiveness of the Infinite until he realizes for- 
giveness of others in his own heart. He can not compre- 
hend that impartial love and good-will toward all creatures 
is a possibility until he realizes it in his own experience. 
In recognition of this Law, the Master Jesus taught : "Seek 
ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and all these things will 
be added unto you." 



102 Tpie Way to Life and Immortality 

Thus, in proportion as God is with us, in proportion 
as we know Him and reahze His presence, do we look 
for Him in others. Again, as we are of the world, car- 
nal, and selfish, do we seek to find the same condition in 
others; and we can not understand how they can be bet- 
tor than we or comprehend more than we. 

Bear in mind that God is ever with those who are 
with Him. There is no restriction placed on this state- 
ment. Nor is there a limitation to the degree of "God 
with us." He who is beginning to awaken to the truth, 
he who is beginning to overcome the thraldom of race 
errors, he who is beginning to work in harmony with the 
Creator and His Laws, is just as great as he who has 
reached final redemption, final unfoldment. For, as is 
the beginning, so must the end be if the beginner persists 
faithfully in obedience to the Divine Law. The beginning 
leads to Sonship and Godhood. 

It is such truths as these that Jesus came to shadow 
forth and to demonstrate to mankind. He stated clearly 
that the least of these is greater than John the Baptist. 
For those who are least have already made a start on the 
right way, the way that leads to Godhood; and, thus, they 
may in time surpass John the Baptist in a true spiritual 
sense. 

Through the life of the Master Jesus, God proved 
that He is with man. Through the obedience of Jesus to 
the Divine Law, God proved to mankind that it is pos- 
sible to demonstrate the fruits of faith and obedience. 
Through the power of the Christ in Jesus, God taught 
mankind. He expects man not only to do what Jesus did 
but even to do greater things. It must be remembered 
that Jesus was subject to race environment as are we. He 
was born in the race belief in the necessity of death. He 
was born even in the belief that there is no Immortality. 
But, through faith and through works, he was able to 
overcome the race belief in the necessity of death. He 



The Way to Life and Immortality' 10!3 

was able to demonstrate Immortality of Soul, and to in- 
struct mankind in the Law that will enable him to demon- 
strate immortality of body as well as Immortality of Soul. 

The Master Jesuj illustrated by his life what it is 
to work vrith God and to be with God, what it is to have 
God as guide and helper. God can not be with those who 
are not with Him any more than Lazarus could go to the 
rich man, for there is a mighty, impassable gulf between. 
Cjod can not manifest His Infinite Presence to those who 
claim to believe, but who in reality have no faith. There 
is a vast difference between profession and actual posses- 
sion. God is with those who, in all humility, come to 
Him, asking for help, aye, even asking for faith — more 
faith and a purer faith. When the heart is sincere and 
earnest, even though it has but little faith, a true desire 
for necessary faith draws God to it, and opens the chan- 
nels of the heart to receive an influx of faith from the 
Infinite Storehouse. God is with those who earnestly de- 
sire to be v>dth Him and to work with Him in harmony 
with His Laws, even though their faith is weak and waver- 
ing. 

Let every hungry, tempest-tossed, wavering soul re- 
member that God is v/ith those who are with Him. 



104 The Way to Life and Immortality 



CHAPTER P^INE 

WHAT OF THE CRUCIFIXION OF THE FLESH f 

A grievous race error is found in the doctrine that, 
in order to attain eternal life, it is necessary to crucify 
the flesh, and that salvation is impossible without crucifix- 
ion and denial of the flesh. This doctrine has been the 
means of holding back vast multitudes from accepting the 
teachings of. Masters and Philosophers. 

In fundamental aspects, this doctrine contains much 
truth. But it has been grievously misunderstood and 
misrepresented until the misrepresentations and the errors 
growing out of it have, in the minds of the general pub- 
lic, supplanted the true doctrine. 

From time untold, it has been thought that crucifixion 
of the flesh makes necessary the denial of all those pleas- 
ures which belong to the flesh. It tends toward strict, 
severe, unreasonable self-discipline. Only a few centu- 
ries ago, our puritan fathers denied their children the right 
to play, even the right to smile, on the sabbath day. Un- 
reasonable though this may seem to us, to them it seemed 
right; and to play or to laugh on the sabbath day brought 
punishment to the child. In this, however, the parents 
were consistent; for what they denied their children they 
would not do themselves. There was no legitimate rea- 
son for such self-denial. It is a question whether our 
ancestors who were so strenuously careful of details in 
regard to sabbath observance gave the matter serious 
thought. They believed in strict observance of the sab- 
bath because they had been taught to believe in it, and 
that was enough. 



106 The Way to Life and Immortality 

But we, of the new age, must reason and analyze, 
and know why an act is right or wrong. In the present 
day, it is not generally considered wrong to indulge in mer- 
riment and activity on the sabbath day. But are we sup- 
plied with a reason for so thinking, or are we taking our 
view for granted match as our ancestors did theirs? 

Determining the right or the WTong of an act in ques- 
tion is comparatively a simple matter. Let the first ques- 
tion be, Will the act hurt anyone, either the self or an- 
other? Let the second question be, Will the act benefit 
anyone, either the self or another? Reasoning along these 
two lines v\^ill readily satisfy the most sensitive conscience 
in regard to the right or the v/rong of a doubtful proposi- 
tion. 

Another point, important because it enters into the 
consideration of many acts, is concerning whether the day 
on which an act is committed affects the act in regard to 
right or wrong. Is it right to do' a certain thing on one 
day or on six days, and wrong to do it on the seventh 
day? 

In general, it may be said that what is actually wrong 
on the seventh day is likewise wrong on any other day. 
The Law of God is absolute in that it classifies wrong as 
wrong, and right as right. The Divine Law recognizes 
only tv/o criteria for determining wrong and right. If 
an act, a thought, or a desire in any way results in in- 
jury to oneself or to another it is to be regarded as wrong. 
If it is free from injury, and results in benefit to the self 
and others, it is to be regarded as right. These two cri- 
teria are independent of days and seasons, time and place. 
That which is right to do on the sabbath is right for 
other days. That which is wrong to do on the sabbath is 
wrong for another day. 

Just as our puritan fathers had conceptions of right 
and wrong, just as they recognized certain forms of cru- 
cifixion of the flesh, so, throughout the centuries, the muL 



The Way to Life and Immortality 1C7 

titudes have held to bcHefs of many kinds — some of which 
are rational and praiseworthy, others of which are un- 
reasonable and even detrimental to human welfare. The 
luireasonable and the erroneous have been associated with 
tlie reasonable and the true so intimately as to be regard- 
ed equally important with them. Consequently, in the 
minds of the multitudes, the errors and the falsities of 
the race belief in crucifixion of the flesh give the most 
prominent coloring to the doctrine, and make it unattrac- 
tive or even obnoxious to them. It is not surprising, then, 
that the doctrine of the crucifixion of the flesh should, in 
the minds of the many, identify itself with an irksome 
self-denial which interferes with happiness and enjoy- 
ment of every description. No wonder the teachings of 
Masters and Initiates on this subject are rejected. At 
the very mention of the v/ord, without investigation, it is 
taken for granted that crucifixion means painful repres- 
sion, and merciless rigidity of discipline, and sanctimo- 
nious etTacement of joy and naturalness. 

That this is not a correct interpretation of crucifixion 
of the flesh is a fundamental principle of the Illuminati. 
That the doctrine, truly understood, admits of bright > 
colors and pleasing outlines is a truth that receives em- 
phasis among them. To reestablish the Christie signifi- 
cance of crucifixion in its simplicity and in its beauty is 
distinctly marked as one aim of the Church of Illumina- 
tion. They would emphasize the bright side of the doc- 
trine and cricifixion. Tiiey w^ould disentangle the erro- 
neous from the true, the irrational from tlie rational. This 
they would do, not by exercising priestly authority in lay- 
ing down definite rules of right and wrong, not by speci- 
fying details for every-day use of all men alike, not by 
sitting in judgment over others— nay, far from it — but 
by defining general principles through which each one may 
determine for himself the correct or the incorrect disposal 
of matters which concern his own personal life. 



108 Ti-iE Way to Life and Immortality 

Crucifixion is not to be identified with repression of 
naturalness and ease, nor with suppression of joy and 
merriment. Nor is it in any way inconsistent with pleas- 
ure and happiness, whether in the form of social func- 
tions, games, sport, and other kinds of wholesome rec- 
reation and diversion. Normal gratification of one's so- 
cial nature, normal satisfaction of the demand for physi- 
cal activity apart from labor and toil, reasonable indul- 
gence in festivities and merry-making, stimulating inter- 
ests which admit of variety along lines of art, nature, 
and music — all these are not only permissible but even 
advantageous to man's spiritual growth. 

This postulate the Illuminati lay down with positive 
emphasis, that the rightness or the wrongness of a thought, 
desires or an act, is to be determined by its effects or its 
tendencies, whether it results in harm and injury to the 
self or to others or whether it results in benefit and profit 
to the self and to others. Any merriment or pleasure — 
aye, even any thought or desire — ^that brings pain, sor- 
row, suffering, harm, or injury to another human crea- 
ture or to the participant is to be classed among 'Ithings 
forbidden." Nor is there any other law under the sun 
that classes thought, desire, or act among "things for- 
bidden." The reason for its being so classified is not 
that it falls in any particular category of things labelled 
"thus shalt thou not." It is so classified for the one 
simple, yet fundamental reason that it is productive of 
harm. 

The Law that classifies as right those things which 
are productive of good and beneficence, and as wrong 
those things which are productive of harm and injury — 
this law concerns the body and conditions which affect 
the formation of the body. It concerns that which man 
partakes of as food and drink. It includes hygienic laws 
in every department of life. Many people who are de- 
youtly conscientious in regard to the outer forms of wor-i 



The Way to Life and Immortality 109 

ship and in regard to visible signs of correct conduct, are, 
nevertheless, woefully indifferent to hygienic conditions 
which vitally affect the welfare of body, mind, and soul. 
I'hat natural laws, or the laws of health and efficiency, 
come under the category of "right and wrong" is a fact 
that fails to prick the conscience of many who are in 
other respects of irreproachable character. Yet these are 
the very points that the Illuminati would emphasize. 

This is the foundation on which the Temple of Il- 
luminati rears its structure. It builds around the corner 
stone of general principles and fundamental laws, v/hich 
each devotee must learn to apply to his own needs as the 
mathematician handles his own instruments. Beauty and 
perfection in the mathematician's work are due to an 
exact comprehension of mathematical laws as well as to 
accuracy, precision, and delicacy in the guiding of instru- 
ments. Likewise, beauty and perfection of character re- 
sult from correct knowledge of natural and divine law, 
by which one is enabled to exercise judgment and decis- 
ion, delicate and precise and accurate. 

In these points, the Illuminati depart from the well- 
trodden path of tradition and ancestral training. They 
regard natural law, or the laws of physical health and 
mental efficiency, as being co-equal with ethical and moral 
law. They place hygienic and dietary discretion on a par 
with social and moral uprightness. They extend the 
boundary lines of righteousness to include the practical 
aspects of dietetics, sleep, work, exercise, and other hy- 
gienic laws, as well as the principles of eugenics and sexual 
science. They claim that the science of Life and Im- 
mortality includes every department of man's nature — • 
body, mind, soul, and spirit. Thus, every feature of daily 
living that is capable of affecting his welfare in any one 
of these departments comes within the legitimate domain of 
a full and satisfying philosophy or religion. N'or is a 
religion or a philosophy dishonored or lowered by being 



110 The Way to Life and Immortality 

extended to include the practical aspects of man's four- 
fold being. In their emphasis upon these points, the 
Illuminati stand alone among schools of philosophy and 
metaphysics. 

In regard to the doctrine of crucifixion of the flesh, 
adherents of the Temple of Illuminati encourage many 
items which are curtailed in the ordinary, strict religious 
body. On the other hand, they discourage and curtail 
many items that are regarded lightly by formal religious 
sects. Particularly is this true in applying the criteria of 
right and wrong to the domain of food and drink. Many 
a devoted worshipper would shudder at the very intima- 
tion of violating a single rule of ethics or morality, yet 
he may smile in derision at the mention of a philosophy 
that places discretion in regard to food and drink on a par 
v\dth discretion in regard to moral conduct. 

Yet why should there be one law for man's moral 
nature and another for his physical being? The very law 
that bases right on the foundation of beneficence and prof- 
it, and that bases wrong on the foundation of harm 
and injury, in the domain of ethical culture and moral 
conduct, is the Lav/ that obtains in like m.anner on the 
plane of physical v/elfare. The thought, word, desire, or 
deed that is productive of harm and injury either to the 
participant or to another is to be avoided. Thought, 
word, desire, or deed that is productive of positive good 
and helpfulness either to the participant or to another, 
provided it is free from harm to anyone, is to be encour- 
aged. Similarly, food or drink which proves injurious to 
the physical being is to be avoided. No matter how pleas- 
ing it may be to the taste, if it retards physical 'functions 
and interferes with normal activity of the organs in any 
v.-ay, if it results in poisonous accretions, if it stimulates 
appetite to an abnormal degree, if it dulls or deadens or 
blunts the mental faculties — the food or the drink that 
leads to such conditions is to be avoided. The religious 



The Way to Life and Immortality 111 

devotee to the laws of righteousness must learn to re- 
spect and to honor in his own life the laws of health and 
el'aciency with as much devotion as he observes moral 
and ethical requirements. Likewise, the mystic, the seeker 
after truth, the aspirant after Alastership and Liitiation, 
or the neophyte under training and guidance of a JNIaster, 
nuist honor, the laws of health and efficiency with as much 
devotion as he observes the laws of prayer, sacred silence, 
and meditation. To the exoteric as to the esoteric he 
must pay his vows with equal reverence. The outer as 
well as the inner he must consult and obey. "As the outer, 
so the inner," — in this as in all things else. 

It is a principle not to be ignored that physical per- 
fection, or the refinement and the purification of physical 
atoms, goes hand in hand with spiritual perfection, or per- 
fection of soul. Thus, perfection of soul depends upon 
perfection of body. To indulge deliberately and wilfully 
in habits that result in sorrow, sickness, misery, regret, 
and inefficiency is to be accounted a sin as grievous as 
violation of the law that says, "Thou shalt not kill." 
Iiarsh, radical, and cruel does it seem to claim that delib- 
erate and wilful harm or injury to the body, which v/eak- 
en? it or shortens the earth life, is to be classed as one 
form of suicide. But the day is not far distant Vvdien the 
principle that indentifies physical righteousness v/ith moral 
righteousness will have become thoroughly established in 
the race consciousness. When that day has come man 
will honor spiritual law and natural lav/ with equal ven- 
eration. 

Anotlier error in connection with lav/ of crucifixion 
is the peculiar idea that in self-denial itself there is vir- 
tue, regardless of any legitimate reason for self-denial. 
Test of strength, proof of unselfishness, to deny oneself 
that which is particularly desirable ! The greater the 
pleasure withheld, the greater the honor and the glory of 
being able to forfeit participation in it ! Does the prodigal 



112 The Way to Life and Immortality 

son manifest filial devotion by spurning the fatted calf, 
preferring still to live on husks fit only for swine? Such 
penance, such self-punishment, has no place in a rational 
religion. In the first place, it is unjust to oneself. In the 
second place, it is a dishonor to God. 

In its final analysis, the Law of Crucifixion identi- 
fies itself with the Law of Justice, the Law of Balance 
and Equilibrium. It prohibits only that which is harm- 
ful. It encourages everything that is beneficent and help- 
ful. It is by no means a hard and cruel master. Rather, 
il is generous and magnanimous in the extreme to him 
who honors and obeys its dictates in the spirit of humility 
and love. 

The highest aspect, however, of crucifixion of the 
fiesh is yet to be considered. Materially and spiritually, 
crucifixion has only one true meaning, namely, change, 
or transmu'tation. It is giving the life of the lower for 
the sake of the higher. It means that, through a correct 
system of living, on the three planes, mental and spiritual 
and physical, man must change body and mind from the 
carnal self into the purified being — a being that follows 
the doctrine of life, life still more abundant. The Law 
of Transmutation holds unflinchingly as its standard the 
aim that every thought and every act shall have as its 
ultimate purpose greater and more sul^lime life. This 
principle obtains on both the physical and the mental 
plsnes. To eat and to drink, to be clothed upon and to 
breathe the breath of life, to think and to plan and to 
cherish desires and ideals, to toil and to put forth effort 
— all is actuated by the one desire, the one motive, the 
one aim, even transmutation of the lower into the higher. 
Transmutation of dross into pure gold, of weakness into 
strength, of coarse and heavy vibrations into vibrations 
fine and light, of sluggish and inactive currents into cur- 
rents alert and rapid; transmutation of material into 
spiritual, of imperfection into perfection, of irresolute- 



The Way to Life and Immortality 113 

ness into firmness of will-power; transmutation of self- 
ishness into generosity, of mailce and envy and bitterness 
into forgiveness and kindness and good-will, of igno- 
rance and error and sin into knowledge and goodness and 
righteousness — this is the esoteric significance of the cru- 
cifixion. 

The ordinary interpretation has emphasized the ele- 
ment of denial, or "giving up." To be sure, this element 
i? necessary, for the lower must be given up for the sake 
of receiving the higher. The Illuminati, however, would 
paint the beauty and the grandeur of the higher, that 
which is to be received, rather than the pain and the 
anguish of separation from that which is to be parted 
with. In its true sense, denial means death. But the 
mistake of the ages has been in losing sight of the new 
birth that is to result from death or denial. Place em- 
phasis on the glory of a new life, and the travail of birth is 
soon forgotten. Paint in lifelike colors the rose-tinted sun- 
rise glow of the new morning, and the darkness of the 
darkest hour is lost to memory. 

Remember, in the process of passing from the lower 
to the higher, from the carnal to the spiritual, there is 
death or denial or crucifixion only of the undesirable. 
The truly desirable is not to be crucified. There is no 
law natural or divine that calls for denial of that which 
is of permanent value. Many things in life, nevertheless, 
are of value only for the sake of being sacrificed. The 
real value of many a so-called blessing consists in its 
ability to be transmuted into something of greater ser- 
vice. Silver coin is neither food nor drink, neither an 
ornament to the body nor a joy to the intellect. Yet it 
may readily be transformed into any or all of these. 
Likewise, according to the Law of Crucifixion, that upon 
which is passed the penalty of death is of value only by 
reason of its transmutability into something of intrinsic 
worth. 



114 The Way to Life ' and Immortality 

In this connection, let it be emphasized that normal, 
healthful pleasures are profitable to man as a means of 
stimulating higher forces. Consequently, self-denial in 
regard to them defeats the very purpose they are intended 
to serve. Miserly hoarding of money is self-denial in 
regard to expenditure ; but it defeats the owner oT the 
advantages to be gained by a judicious disposition of 
money. Likewise, strict, rigid self-discipline which re- 
fuses to satisfy normal, natural demands of body or 
mind may possess the virtue of self-control; but it fails 
to satisfy the Law of Transmutation. Normal gratifica- 
tion of normal desires for pleasure, whether physical, 
mental, or social, is of intrinsic value in that it stimulates 
to activity forces which would otherwise lie dormant and 
useless. The forces thus aroused may be directed into 
channels of usefulness, and thus serve a place of untold 
value. True self-denial in regard to innocent pleasures, 
therefore, consists in the attitude of mind one takes 
toward them. The correct attitude says : "I satisfy this 
desire not merely for the pleasure there is in it, but es- 
pecially for the sake of stimulating forces and aspirations 
and ambitions which I intend to turn into channels of 
usefulness." This attitude of mind possesses the virtue 
of recognizing the Law of Transmutation. The lower 
motive of mere pleasure for its own sake is crucified. 
Rather, it is transmuted into, or gives its life to, the 
higher motive of receiving power and strength and stimu- 
lus to be directed into channels of lofty endeavor. On 
this principle, that legitimate joys and pleasures of both 
mind and body arc not only permissible but valuable and 
even necessary to the highest culture, the Temple of II- 
luminati places great emphasis. 

It is true that things in themselves desirable, as, 
pleasures and joys, which are the means of awakening 
dormant forces and potencies in one's life, serve"" as a 
medium of transmutation. It is true that normal grati- 



Tpie Way to Life and Immortality 115 

fication of these satisfy the Law of Crucifixion of the 
flesh when the lov/er motive is sacrificed to the higher. 
But, let it not be forgotten that there are many undesir- 
able traits and qualities which must be overcome. The 
sacrifice or the transmutation of these is another form of 
satisfying the law of crucifixion. There are many de- 
sires and tendencies which must not be gratified. The 
self-denial that foregoes such gratification is one form 
of crucifixion. There are many habits thoroughly estab- 
lished in one's nature which must be corrected. The self- 
denial that rectifies harmful habits is another feature of 
crucifixion. 

Chief among undesirable habits is the habit of de- 
structive thought and feeling. Man must overcome and 
rectify this habit. He must change, he must transmute, 
undesirable th.ought tendencies into desirable. This is a 
denial, a sacrifice, a crucifixion, that demands painful 
execution. But he who holds to the ideal standard of 
healthful, constructive thought habits will count sur- 
render as nothing in comparison with the gain to be de- 
rived therefrom. 

Chief among destructive thought habits is the ten- 
dency to anger. This is a deadly passion which must be 
overcome. It poisons both mind and body. No good re- 
sults from it. It is chief among deadly vices. No one 
truly desires to give way to anger, but the habit may 
gain such power over one as to seem uncontrollable. 
However, so long as there is life and a desire to over- 
come, there is hope. Let him who is a slave to this pas- 
sion take courage. It is possible to transm-ute this habit 
into a power for good. The force tliat is novv' expended in the 
direction of anger and malice may be turned into the channel 
of good-will and wholesome service. The force or the power 
in an uncontrollable current of water is good. Gain control 
over it and put it to good service in running your m.achin- 
ery, and it is transformed from a danger and a menace 



116 The Way to Life and Immortality 

into a benefactor. The force and the power manifested in 
anger is good. Overcome the tendency, and change the 
current, and set it to work running your machinery ac- 
cording to the ideal of service to others; and you trans- 
mute its power into beneficence. 

Overcoming the tendency to anger calls for great 
v/atchfulness and persistent effort. But the greater the 
price, the greater the reward. When the passion begins to 
manifest, immediately set to work to change it into good- 
will and forgiveness and love. This demands extreme 
will-power and courage and persistency. This is a real 
crucifixion. It is difficult and painful, seeing that the 
passion is a part of one's very life. 

Then there is the twin passion, jealousy. Of the 
vast multitudes, how many are free from this cruel pas- 
sion ? Rather, how few ! How many are not in its grip ?, 
Rather, how few ! Here is a mighty work to be accom- 
plished. Here is a crucifixion that will be felt. Here is 
a powerful current the channel of which must be changed. 
Nevertheless, great is the reward of him who overcomes. 
Great is the price of victory. But glorious also is the 
crown of the victor. If it is a matter of jealousy because 
of possessions, one must control one's thought and wish 
another no less. He maj^, however, wish himself more, 
provided he puts forth legitimate effort to gain more. The 
force that might be wasted in grudges and jealousy must 
be turned into channels of honest endeavor to accomplish 
and to achieve. 

In euA'^y, also, there is opportunity for crucifixion. 
Within most people the passion of envy is very strong. 
It is difficult to understand why others, apparently not 
so worthy as we, apparently not laboring so hard as we, 
should have more than we. We forget that the soul has 
been eternally, and we know not what the soul of him 
whom we envy may have suffered. This passion we must 
crucify. We must change it into love. We must wish 



The Way to Life and Immortality 117 

happiness for those whom we are templed to envy. We 
must see that the crucifixion is complete and perfect. It 
is complete onl}^ \\hcn our desire for the welfare of others 
is a desire of the heart, sincere and true. 

Thus, wc see that crucifixion is real, that there is 
demand for it in the lives of all men and Vv-omcn. ' Cru- 
cifixion, however, is not a process of stifling-, or stultify- 
ing, or destroying. This statement is true both in regard 
to natural, normal desires, passions, and appetites, v^-hether 
of body, mind, or soul, which may be gratified, and in re- 
gard to undesirable traits and qualities and tendencies, 
which are to be overcome. Crucifixion is not a negative 
process. It is always a positive, active process. In the 
case of undesirable qualities, it is the act of changing 
them into desira])le. In the case of innocent pleasures, 
it is the act of transmuting the thought of mere pleasure 
into the th.ought of awakening new forces to be used in 
cliannels of good. In either case, it calls for alertness 
and activity. The old idea of self-denial results in slug- 
gishness and weakness of character. According to the 
teachings of the Illuminati, the Law of Crucifixion of the 
flesh results in power, strength, life — nev/ness of life — 
life ever more and more abundant. 

As we pass through these states of crucifixion, we 
gradually free the mind from bondage and from the 
fetters that hold it with rods of iron. Thus, freeing the 
mind from undesirable, destructive passions, we are at 
leisure to devote time to pursuits and interests that are 
pleasure-bringing and constructive. As these changes 
continue, the body becomes free from deadly poisons 
which have been generated previously by the deadly pas- 
sions indulged in. As body and mind become free and 
strong, the soul becomes av.'akened and enlightened. Un- 
foldment and development of soul takes place. Gradually, 
mortality puts on immortality. Man becomes like the 
gods; and, in time, Sonship with the Father is estabhshed. 



lis The Way to Life and iMMOuTALifY 

These are some of the principles underlying the^doc- 
trine of crucifixion of the flesh as taught by the Illuminati 
in Soul Science, the Way to Life and Immortality. They 
are not presented merely with the idea of satisfying an 
intellectual craving for speculation in regard to doctrinal 
points. They are for those who hunger after 'truth and 
righteousness, those who are desirous of living a life 
of usefulness and service, those who are anxious to apply 
to their own characters the measuring rod of self-disci- 
pline, aye, especially for those vv^ho are ready to honor and 
to obey the Law of Crucifixion as a means of transmuting 
dross and alloy into pure gold. 

No amount of faith in Jesus as an extraordinary 
character, aye, not even faith in him as the only begotten 
Son of God and as one arisen from the dead, can suffice 
to redeem man from the bondage of ignorance, error, and 
sin. Faith, however, in the Law he m.ade use of in 
order to demonstrate Sonship with the Father and power 
over death — this type of faith will vv^ork wonders in re- 
deeming man from bondage to ignorance, error, and sin. 
Jesus was a deliverer in that he taught a doctrine and a 
system of living which will, when obeyed, deliver mankind 
from ignorance, error, and sin; from distress and wretch- 
edness ; from disease and death. An active faith in the 
Christ will lead to Life and Immortality. 



CHAPTER TEN 

LIFE WITHOUT RELIGION IS NOT HUMAN. 

Time and again it has been stated that religion is 
not necessary to the Hfe of a people, that a people can at- 
tain the same height in culture, in enlightenment, and in 
all that makes life worth the living, without religion as 
with it. This doctrine, however, is false and even de- 
structive. 

Seemingly, this is an age of irreligion. Yet, iinder- 
ncath the surface, underneath the seeming truth, there 
is in the hearts of men, lying dormant perhaps, a religious 
current as strong as has ever been found in the hearts 
of men in any age. It is true that men have lost respect 
for the present form of religion, they have lost faith in 
current interpretation of truth. They have lost faith in 
the established church, in the vehicle through which re- 
ligion is carried to the people. But we must not forget 
that the form is not religion, but only the vessel in which 
religion exists. Thus, the statement that men have lost 
faith in religion can not be substantiated. 

Religion is life itself ; and, without religion, there is 
no life. Religion is the link that connects man with the 
higher spheres. If this link were broken man would be 
nothing more than animal. He would not even be a sav- 
age ; for the savage, though illiterate and uncultured, has 
a religion that covers every department of life. 

There are men who claim to have no faith, who say 
that they believe in nothing. But watch a man that makes 
such a claim, watch him as he goes aH^out his duties, watch 
him as he deals with men. Question him, and we find 



120 The Way to Life and Immortality 

that his religion is a v/ork, a method of business. He 
deals honestly with all men in all transactions. There is 
no outer restraint to compel him to follow methods of 
honesty. Ask him why, and you receive the answer that 
he thinks it is best. But, since there is no external re- 
straint, why not indulge in dishonesty and accrue power 
and influence as well as money and possessions through 
selfish and illegitimate means? The same answer meets 
this question, "No, honesty is- best." It may be unknow- 
ingly to himself, yet honesty to him is a religion; and he 
lives his religion faithfully. Nor is religious feeling dead 
within him. It simply does not express Itself as such be- 
cause he has not found a satisfactory means of expres- 
sion. . It is quietly awaiting the time when it shall have 
found a natural spontaneous avenue of expression. 

Say what we will, theorize as we may, religion is the 
only reality there is. Religion is not merely a belief, nor 
is it a mere faith. Religion is life itself. It is founded 
on the principle of life. It is, in fact, the principle of life ; 
for it is the incentive back of life — the incentive that has 
called man into being. It is the connecting link between 
man and God. Were man able to free himself actually 
from this bond of connection, he would degenerate into 
a brute. 

In proportion as man has this religious life within 
him, in that proportion will be his love for all that is 
worth while in life. Prayer and devotion to formal 
church worship are not the only ways by which man ex- 
presses religious feeling. The most frequent and the 
most nearly universal expression of religious sentiment is 
in love of the beautiful and the perfect. Love of flowers., 
of m.usic, of art, of architecture, of symmetry and propor- 
tion — these are evidences of deep religious devotion. In 
fact, religion may be aptly defined as love for all that is 
beautiful. But beauty is the natural result of perfection 
and is proportionate to it. Therefore, it is equally truq 



The Way to Life "and Ijmjmortality 121 

that religion is love for the perfect.. Proportionate to the 
religious life and the religious sentiment in one's nature 
will be one's devotion to the various expressions of beauty 
and perfection. 

It is a fact patent to all close observers that men who 
are the most truly religious are the greatest lovers of 
music, of flowers, of art, of the aesthetic in all depart- 
ments of life. It must be understood that fondness for the 
beautiful need not necessarily lead one away from the 
practical and the useful. For utility and true beauty go 
hand in hand. Beauty is only another name for perfec- 
tion. The beautiful animal is a perfect specimen of its 
kind. The beautiful flower is a perfect sample of its 
class. Beauty in the equipments of a building is insep- 
arable from the purpose it is intended to serve. The 
beautiful character is a perfect example of graces and vir- 
tues. The beautiful body is a perfect picture of health 
as well as a dream of pleasing tints and outlines. In 
fact, health is the secret of beauty in feature and in form. 

In reality, beauty and perfection are synonymous 
terms. Alore than this, in the final analysis, religious 
sentiment and love of the beautiful and the perfect are 
synonymous terms. 

Beyond all contradiction, religion has only one aim- 
that is, to perfect man. This is the one aim of religion in 
the present age. This has ahvays been its aim, and al- 
ways will be. Religion is not a formal faith, but a feel- 
ing; not a formulated belief, but a desire for perfection. 
It is faith in the beautiful and the perfect wherever found. 
it is belief in th.e ideal and in ultimate good wherever 
manifest. Its highest expression is in love for perfection 
of manhood and womanhood. Love for perfection as the 
goal placed before man and woman, this is evidence of re- 
ligious life. Faith in the possibility of perfection is evi- 
dence of religious devotion. A purpose and a will-power 
that hold one to the ideal of perfection in every depart- 



l22 The Way to Life And Immortality 

ment of life, this is evidence of religious power and fer- 
vor. 

It is a mistaken idea that religion is dead in the 
present age. The idea that men are irreligious at heart 
is a grievous misconception. At no time in the history of 
the world have men cared more for the harmonious and 
the beautiful as expressions of perfect development than 
in the present age. Evidence of this is seen in the ten- 
dency of. the age toward perfection in the various arts 
and trades, crafts and professions. Perfection of ma- 
chinery claims the undivided attention of many a man. 
Many another man is devoted to the one purpose of 
reaching perfection in the cultivation of plant, or fruit, or 
flower. Perfect development of fowls and animals cov- 
ers a large field in which the interest of many^ is en- 
grossed. 

In the trades and in business activities, this sipirit 
presents the appearance of rivalry and competition. Yet 
competition serves as a goad that stimulates one on to 
more skilful execution. Rivalry is a stimulus toward ac- 
curacy and delicacy — one form of perfection. The gen- 
eral demand for superior goods and superiority of work- 
manship incites a genuine love for perfect quality and for 
unquestioned skill in the preparation of products. Even 
the struggle for existence stimulates latent forces and un- 
recognized abilities in the expression of artistic tendencies. 
It must be admitted that economic conditions are iby no 
means ideal and that rivalry and competition do not grow 
out of altruistic motives. Nevertheless, in spite of unjust 
conditions and cruel measures, religious life throbs under 
the tattered garb of many a humble workman who honors 
the ideal of doing his best in every undertaking. Many a 
lad, having the instinct of the beautiful, forced by pov- 
erty to a life of toil, finds satisfaction in giving artistic 
expression and perfect execution to the task at hand. His 
^aily task may be a commonplace duty and implements 



The Way to Life and iMMORTALitY l23 

may be crude; but he honors both the task and the un- 
plements by using dehcacy of taste and accuracy of skill 
in execution. In this, he satisfies a deep-seated religious 
instinct, although he may consider himself an unbeliever 
and an agnostic. 

It is an age in which love of the beautiful and love 
of harmony are made practical and useful. It is no longer 
considered that a lover of the beautiful is one who sits 
with folded hands dreaming of heavenly chants and ethe- 
real color-effects. He is one whom nothing satisfies ex- 
cept the actual creation or expression of the beauty he 
feels. If circumstances debar him from finding an outlet 
for his artistic tendencies in the channel of his choice, he 
applies his love of harmony and symmetry to the task at 
hand. Nor is this all. Through faithful performance of 
commonplace duties according to a lofty ideal, in time, 
he makes for himself an opening in the line of his choice. 
Eventually, he becomes master of his art, and gives ex- 
pression to the dream of his childhood. 

It is true that men do not give expression to religious 
feeling in the same way they once did. Long, tiresome lip 
prayers fail to satisfy. Sermons the length of which is 
measured by hours are losing their power over men. It 
is true, however, that those who find religious form and 
ceremony irksome are generous in expressing their appre- 
ciation of the beautiful and the perfect wherever found. 
They are unrestrained in their praise of inspiring, soul- 
stirring music and art. Nor is praise given with insincer- 
ity and merely for effect. They are held enraptured by 
the power of harmony and rhythm in sound and in color 
and in movement. By this means they are enabled to 
forget themselves and to lose sight of concerns and inter- 
ests which daily tax and harrow men's souls. This to 
them is worship. For this they give sincere praise. 

The religion of the people is taking practical turns, 
and demands practical expression. This is an encouraging 



124 The Way to Life and Immortality 

sign. Men are becoming- lovers of the perfect in every 
department of life. Great is the mystery indicated by 
tills fact. Love of the perfect, in time, zuill cause men to 
seek perfection for themselves. Herein zve read the signs 
of the times, the signs of the perfect state of man, zvhicli 
is to be zvhen religion shall have become truly a life — a] 
life that aims at perfection of body, mind, and soul. 

For this reason do the Illmninati encourage men to 
seek the beautiful, and to love perfection for its own sake, 
and to surround themselves with the best and the highest 
art. We may not be able to lead men at one bound to 
accept the highest and the ultimate aim of religion — per- 
fection and deification of manhood and womanhood. But, 
by giving men the best expressions of art and nature, we 
stimulate in them forces which tend eventually toward the 
ideal of a perfect race. The more the individual is en- 
couraged in the gratification of that type of perfection 
which he most loves, the more quickly will he respond to 
appeals for perfection of character. Gratification of love 
for the beautiful in any line whatever is a stepping-stone 
toward love of perfection in human life. To argue that 
love for the beauties of nature is not a type of religious 
fervor is to argue that the letter, a, is not a part of the al- 
phabet. 

Love for perfection and a desire to express perfec- 
tion is the attracting center to which all men are being 
drawn. Believe it or not, men are becoming the points of 
steel, which are yielding, gradually but surely, to the at- 
tracting center. 

And know this: God Himself is revealed to mankind 
through tke beautiful and the perfect. The more nearly 
perfect an object is, the nearer it is to God and the more 
closely it resembles God. One epithet applied to God is 
Perfeciion. Love of the beautiful and the perfect in the 
heart of anyone gives evidence that there is in that heart 
a desire for God and for all that pertains to Him, The 



The Way to Life and Immortality 125 

desire indicates religious life. It is the very life of him 
who is actuated by its fervor. Find a man who cares not 
for music, who takes no interest in things beautiful, whose 
heart is not stirred by tokens of perfection, and you have 
also found the man who cares not for life. He is the man 
li-Jio lias no religion. Religions life has ebbed aivay and* 
has breathed its last. He is no longer man in reality, biib 
a broken reed sJiaken and tossed and blazon here and\ 
tiiere by the zmnd, whether it eonies from nortJi or souths 
from east or zvest. 

Love for the beautiful and the perfect gradually 
awakens in man a something of which he was heretofore 
unaware. This something manifests itself in a desire to 
be more worthy of all that is beautiful, a desire to be more 
ill h.armony with it, a desire to be part of it. The awaken- 
ing of these desires, in the beginning, V\^ill cause a restless- 
ness, an indescribable longing, a hunger of heart, a yearn- 
ing, a seeking for that which satisfies. In some manner, 
iTian should be led at this stage in his growth to see that 
everything for wdiich he longs — all beauty and all perfec- 
tion, all symmetry and all harmony, even all that is — is 
within himself. If the way whereby this is to be realized 
can be pointed out to him, all! is well. For this desire 
will gradually become a Fire. Love of the beautiful and 
the perfect results in the desire to become perfect. For 
only in perfection of the self — body, mind, and soul — can 
one's love for beauty and perfection ever be fully satisfied. 
Tlie desire for perfection becomes a Flame, which re- 
sults ultimately in Illumination. Then it is seen how love 
of the beautiful and the perfect constitutes religion the 
most sincere and the most devout. Though it may mani- 
fest first as a passion for music and harmony or for the 
beauties of nature, in the end it becomes a passion for 
perfection of self — a burning desire to become like God. 

Mankind has been passing through stages of growth, 
wliich have led them to the place from which real progress 



126 The Way to Life and Immortality 

will be made. The turning point has been reached; and 
definite progress is to be noted. Already progress is point- 
ed out clearly in the history of the people. 

Only a few centuries ago, men lived in self-denial, 
not in regard to things in which it is well to exercise self- 
control; but they went to the extreme of suppressing all 
expression of love for the beautiful. It was forbidden to 
be surrounded Vv'ith objects of beauty. Many harbored 
the belief that music should be discouraged, that laughter 
is harmful. Asceticism, rather than religion, prevailed. 
Denial and repression originated in regard for a creed 
rather than in love for an ideal. In the hearts of men 
there was not so much love, not so much joy and peace, 
as in the hearts of those who today profess no religion, 
no church connection, but v/ho are surrounded by objects 
of beauty and who cherish lofty ideals and generous 
thoughts. Many today who are classed as irreligious and 
non-believers in respect to outer forms of worship have in 
their hearts less hatred, jealousy, envy, and ill-will than 
did those of former years who made loud profession of 
faith. This is seen in the fact that in the early days of our 
history religious zeal led men to persecute and even to 
burn those whom they looked upon as witches. Thus, it 
is evident that, although men of our times do not make 
public profession of faith, and consequently are considered 
less religious, they are, in fact, more truly religious in that 
they are not so much in bondage to destructive passions 
and in that fellov/ship has a place in their hearts. 

While progress is m.arked, yet this is only the awaken- 
ing stage in the growth of the race. Soon will come the 
active developing stage, in which men will seek to find that 
which will give them life more nearly perfect and a more 
nearly perfect expression of life. Then men will live 't%e life 
of development, the life that seeks conscious connection 
with the Godhead, and Illumination of Soul. 

Trul^ men have fallen from their divine estate; but 



The Way to Life and Immortality 127 

this is not to say that they need to remain fallen. Rather, 
having knowledge of the fallen state, and knowledge of all 
states since the fall; and knowing that even the present 
life is far preferable to any of the stages previously passed, 
- -with this knowledge man is prepared to press forward, 
to go onward and upward, until the perfect state is reached. 
In the perfect state he will be as one of the gods, knowing 
good from evil, choosing the good because he realizes that 
only in the good is life to be found, and because he realizes 
that from evil death results. 

What was the prevailing doctrine of the age that we 
have just left behind? Was it that man should be perfect? 
Or was it rather that he should subscribe to a form and 
that outside of this form there could be no eternity? True, 
it was taught that man should obey God or be condemned. 
P.ut how was he to obey Ilim? In becoming perfect in 
body and in soul? Or, in crucifying the flesh, destroying 
it, and suppressing and stifling its normal demands? 

Wliat is the doctrine of the new age, the age just 
beginning? 

"That man should redeem the body and cleanse the 
heart." This is the foundation upon which the religion, 
the very life, of the new age must be built. Not to cru- 
cify the flesh, not to ignore it, not to mortify the body, but 
to take care of it, to develop it, to cleanse it through 
right living and right thinking; to perfect the body so that 
it may become a beautiful temple in which the soul may 
manifest and become tlie Son of God — this is the doctrine 
of the new age. 

The doctrine of the new age, the teaching of the II- 
luminati, is twofold. It teaches not only the upbuilding, 
the perfecting, and the beautifying of the body but also 
the cleansing of the heart. Man must free himself of all 
that is destructive in thought and thus build the Immortal 
Soul, the Soul that is redeemed and made whole. 

This is the basis of religion for the new age. It is 



128 The Way to Life and Immortality 

a practical religion, a religion sanctified by God. It is a 
redemptive religion. This we know because those who 
have obeyed its teachings have found it practical and re- 
demptive. Its principles can be applied to the every-day 
needs of life and the reward is manifold; but for those 
who accept it merely as an article of faith without living 
according to its requirements, there is no reward. 

"Redeem the body that is thine, but also cleanse the 
heart that is within the body." This is the message that 
the Illuminati bring to all men. It is not mysterious and 
hard to understand, but it is a practical message full of 
life and inspiration. 



CHAPTEB ELEVE?^ 

MAN, THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD. 

The great Law of Being always has been and always 
will be, as first expressed by the Thrice Wise Philosopher 
Hermes : "As it is below, so is it above." From this ex- 
pression of the Law must all things be considered. 

What do we think of a building in most respects per- 
fect, which has here and there a blemish or a spot crumb- 
ling away in decay? The perfect lines, the superior style 
of architecture, and the faultless design are lost to view 
by reason of the few defects. Yet imperfection is the first 
to attract attention. The imperfect in the presence of the 
perfect is conspicuous by virtue of contrast. 

Such a temple is the body of man. Man was created 
in the image of the Creator and himself endowed with 
the attributes of the Creator. Believe and think as he will, 
it is none the less true that the body of man is the temple 
of the living God. As such, it is an exact prototype of the 
beautiful temple structure in which men worship the 
Father. Although the body, temple of God, may be per- 
fect in its construction and in its appointments, yet if it 
is marred through the effects of disease it is not a perfect 
temple. And worship therein — that is, the expression of 
God therein — can not be perfect so long as disease holds 
sway. 

This fact brings us face to face with a serious problem, 
a problem that affects every living being. It is this : only 
one thing can fully manifest itself through the body at a 
time. Thus, the presence of disease in a body is conclusive 
evidence that God, the Divine Being, is not fully in posses- 



130 The Way to Life and Immortality 

sion of that temple, but that the carnal nature — call it 
what you will — holds sway. One nature or the other is 
master. One or the other predominates. God — that is, 
health, beauty, and harmony — prevails or evil — that is, 
disease, inharmony, suffering-, and sin — prevails. All that 
is perfect is of God. Nor is it altogether incorrect to say 
that all that is imperfect is of evil. 

Without doubt, man is the temple of the living God. 
But it must be acknowledged that the temple may not be 
occupied by the living God. It rests with man so to pre- 
pare the temple that the living God will dwell therein. For 
it is *an undeniable fact that the Infinite will not dwell 
therein unless the temple is a habitation fit for the Infinite. 

This calls for a consideration of the concept, "Divine 
Being," or "the Infinite." Many do not think of the In- 
finite as a personal being, and are therefore skeptical con- 
cerning man as the temple of the living God. Each one is 
f'"ee to lay aside every idea of personality and individuality 
in connection with Deity. One may even refuse to believe 
that there is a God. Yet the fact remains that if we do 
not give proper attention to the body, if we do not satisfy 
its normal requiremiCnts in regard to food, clothing, sleep, 
exercise, and other requisites of health and right living, 
there will be disease, which results in suffering, inhar- 
mony, distress, and inefficiency; consequently, we say that 
God does not dwell there. What matters it whether v/e 
say, God does not dwell in the temple or whether we say 
that health, happiness, harmony, love and forgiveness, and 
freedom from suffering do not dwell there? What matters 
it whether we say that God does not dwell there or whether 
we say that Perfection does not dwell there? 

Men of the Illuminati believe in God. Yet, instead of 
limiting Him to definite boundaries of time and space, of 
personality and individuality, they think of the Infinite as 
including all things. He is health. He is happiness. lie 
is love. He is freedom from ignorance, error, and sin. 



The Way to Life and Immortality 131 

Consequently, to say that disease, inharmony, ignorance, 
error, and sin prevail in a temple of flesh is equivalent to 
saying that God dwells not there, that Godhood does not 
predominate there. 

Think of a beautiful temple with perfection stamped 
on every feature, perfect in design, in architecture, in ma- 
terial, in decorations, and in appointments. Yet what is 
such a temple worth without a Godlike priest and without 
humble, sincere worshippers? Sad as it may seem, this 
corresponds exactly to a state of affairs that is to be guard- 
ed against in human life. It is possible for the temple of 
flesh to be apparently perfect in every feature and yet be 
desolate and unoccupied so far as Godhood is concerned. 
It is possible for the body to be a beautiful structure, a 
specimen of physical beauty and of physical perfection, 
and yet the character dwelling within may be destitute of 
divine attributes. It is possible for man to be perfect as 
an animal, yet be altogether carnal, altogether a temple of 
flesh. To be a perfect animal, to be a beautiful temple of 
flesh, is truly desirable, and is by no means to be discour- 
aged. But this in itself is by no means all of life. This 
is not the divine plan and purpose for man. The divine 
purpose is that he shall be perfect man and perfect god. 
The possibility of becoming a perfect animal, destitute of 
active divine attributes ; the possibility of his becoming a 
beautiful temple of flesh destitute of divine priesthood and 
divine rulership — this is a danger to be watched. 

In building the perfect temple, man must have in view 
two things. In the first place, he must have in view the 
perfection of the body — a body perfectly healthy and nor- 
mal, one that is free from disease and free from the suffer- 
ing attendant upon disease. In the second place, he must 
have in view at all times the ideal of a strong and beauti- 
ful soul as the occupant and the ruler of the body. These 
two ideals must go hand in hand, perfection of body and 
perfection of soul. These two processes of development 



132 The Way to Life and Immortality 

must go on simultaneously. The ideal is that when the body 
has reached a certain stage of development the soul shall 
also have become developed, illumined, and Godlike. Then 
man can rest assured that .God dwells there. Then man 
will know that his body has become the temple of the liv- 
mg God. If man holds these two ideals constantly in view, 
every cell of the physical being becomes charged with this 
divine desire ; and the body will not only be of healthy, nor- 
mal flesh but will be flesh of His flesh, and the soul will be 
soul of His soul. 

This twofold process is normal, healthful temple-build- 
ing. This process changes mortal into immortal. It is not 
a process of destruction, or tearing down, but a natural 
process of building or changing, the natural process of 
growth. 

When man has accomplished this great work ; when, 
through his thoughts and his desires and through his hab- 
its of living, he has changed the body from disease and suf- 
fering to health and harmony; when the mind has become 
awakened, and the soul enlightened and illumined — then 
has God in very truth come to that man and has taken pos- 
session of the temple, and the man not only has become the 
Son of God but has attained the consciousness of being the 
Son of God. When man has become the temple of the liv- 
irig God, he will no longer think of a far-off heaven nor of 
the far-off event of entering into a distant heaven ; but he 
will have already entered heaven, and will know that this 
life is a part of the greater life, and that it is in the Now 
that he enters into his heritage and becomes one with those 
great beings who have gone before. Heaven is where we 
make it, and what we make it. When heaven comes, or 
when one enters heaven, rests entirely with the individual. 
At the moment we shall free ourselves from bondage to 
those things which we do not desire, at that moment we 
begin to live the true life, and at that moment will the new 
life, the heavenly life, begin for us. The consciousness of 



The Way to Life and Immortality 133 

life on a higher plane is heaven. The consciousness of 
harmony and peace, the consciousness of loyalty to a noble 
ideal, in whatever degree developed, whether in its infancy 
or in its maturity, is heaven to that extent. There are de- 
grees of heaven as there are degrees of consciousness and 
of realization. 

Life is a continual building. It took King Solomon 
all his life to build the great temple. In that building every 
bit of material was inspected so as to insure that it was 
perfect. So should we inspect every part of the material 
that is to become a part of our temple. We must see to it 
that nothing except, perfect cells are allowed to become 
part of the body. This calls for constant watching. Our 
thoughts and feelings must be carefully guarded and con- 
trolled. Thoughts and feelings of hatred, anger, ill-will 
must not be granted a place in our minds and hearts. Cells 
charged with hatred are no more fit to enter the bodily 
structure than are imperfect stones fit to be built into the 
walls of a temple that is to endure for ages. 

If, in packing a barrel of fine apples with the idea of 
keeping them for a great length of time, one apple that is 
decayed should be left among the good, this one decayed 
apple would inoculate all the others around it, and in 
time the entire barrel of apples would be infected. So is 
it with the cells of the body. One cell charged with the vi- 
bration of anger will poison neighboring cells and will 
altect cells apparently healthy. Cells of hatred and anger 
are destructive in their effects, and consequently tear down 
rather than build up the physical organism. Thus a con- 
tinual work of destruction goes on in the body of man. 
Besides the passions of anger and hatred .there are many 
oliiers, such as jealousy, envy, and kindred passions, which 
charge the cells with destructive, poisonous vibrations. 
This results in a diseased, abnormal condition in that part 
of the body in which the corru])t cells gain entrance. 

When we understand this Law of Temple Building, 



134 "friE Way to Life and Immortality 

when we bear in mind that every moment in the Hfe of 
man is a moment of building, that not a moment passes 
without giving its share in the work of construction, that 
not food alone enters the body but that every thought, 
every desire, every passion enters the body and becomes 
the means of charging the physical cells with its particular 
type of vibration — then will we have the Key to life, health, 
and happiness. 

It must be emphasized in this connection that in this 
fact the Illuminati find the secret by means of which their 
healers are enabled to free man from disease. This mystery, 
this great truth, this law, the healer teaches his patient. 
He teaches the sufferer how to free his mind from pas- 
sions and thoughts and desires which charge the cells with 
disease-creating vibrations. He teaches him how to sub- 
stitute in their place health-creating vibrations — construc- 
tive thoughts, desires, and passions, which will charge the 
cells with health and with the truth that life is real and 
eternal to him who makes it so. It is utterly impossible 
for the man who thinks only of the good, the true, and 
the beautiful, who holds only thoughts of love, good-fellow- 
ship, and life to have a diseased body; for the cells that he 
is constantly building into the body are charged with these 
life-giving vibrations. 

The principles here propagated picture the ideal state. 
But be it known that we can have just as much of the ideal 
state as we put forth effort to have. In proportion as we 
free the mind of hatred, anger, jealousy, and envy; in pro- 
portion as we hold thoughts of good-will, fellowship and 
love, in that proportion will we have health and peace and 
harmony, happiness and contentment. Results will be in 
exact proportion with the effort. If we free the mind and 
the heart altogether of destructive thoughts and desires, 
and if we eat life-giving foods, and observe other hygienic 
habits, near indeed will we be to perfection. The choice 
is ours. The work js ours. It is only a question of hov^ 



The Way, to Life and ImmorTalitV 135 

much we desire these things and of how mucli effort we are 
wining to put forth to obtain them. 

Another Item enters into this great work — that is, the 
elimination of the element of fear. No man can reach the 
highest so long as he allows fear to be a part of his nature. 
Fear is a great detriment to the attainment of perfection as 
are the deadly passions, anger, jealousy, envy, and malice. 
This is to be accounted for in the fact that fear prevents 
ViS from letting go of the old destructive life, and from 
taking hold of the new and greater, the constructive, life. 
Man fears this and that and the other. He fears that by 
letting go of the old life his neighbors and friends will 
talk about him or shun him. He fears that he may be 
deprived of pleasures which he now enjoys, that he may be 
required to sacrifice profits otherv/ise his. He forgets 
that by taking up the new life he will win friends and asso- 
ciates which will be of greater value to him than the old 
life afforded. He forgets that in the new life new pleasures 
will come, pleasures far more intense than were the old 
ones, pleasures which are not attended or followed by un- 
h.'.ppy results as were the old. He will learn that true 
pleasures are constructive and healthful, and free from 
bitter after-effects. 

Fear is the shackle that binds the millions to a life of 
misery, a life of suffering, a life that is in the main unde- 
sirable, a life that gives an hour of pleasure followed by 
months of pain and suffering. 

Fear is the great black desert that Is to be found In 
the heart and the mind of the multitudes, a desert tract 
covering more territory than all else In the mind and the 
heart. 

Fear In the soul of man Is like a swamp on a beautiful 
estate. Out of a hundred acres of land nine-tenths is prof- 
itless. If the swampy places, the low lands, are filled in 
and improved, there v/ill be one hundred acres of beautiful, 
valuable land. If the swamp remains, there are only teu 



136 The Way to TJtfe 'and Iaimortality 

acres of valuable land; and even this is decreased in value 
by the unsightliness and by the miasma of the swamp. 
Thus is fear to man. It is covering and holding under 
subjection nine-tenths of his life. And even this one-tenth 
is overshadowed by the repressing influence of fear, and 
his efficiency is reduced by it. 

If man can be made to see this fact; if he can be led 
to fill in this miasmic swamp of fear with thoughts and 
desires of the beautiful, of the lovable, and of the true; 
if he becomes interested in living in harmony with the Di- 
vine Law — then this swamp of fear is reclaimed, and man 
becomes a whole man. He will use all his faculties, which 
in time become free. Thus will man truly be the Temple of 
the living God, Center of the measureless estate destined 
by divine right as his. He will become free from undesir- 
able things, free from pain, free from suffering, free from 
disease and inharmony — the possessor of health, happiness, 
and Godhood, and of all that the consciousness of Godhood 
brings. 



CHAPTER TWELVE 

FEAR, THE GATE OF DEATH. 

Fear is a destroyer of power. It is the destroyer of 
life. Fear has held the vast multitudes back, has held them 
to believe only that which is believed by others, by friend, 
by neighbor, by instructor. Fear it is that draws the bands 
tighter and tighter until there is scarcely a breath of life 
left, by no means sufficient to maintain life as it should be 
maintained. Men have feared to do otherwise than be- 
lieve that which had been taught them by those in author- 
ity. As a consequence, they were deluded into the belief 
that their own way of thinking must be abnormal and not 
to be trusted, that indeed thinking for themselves must be 
checked and given no encouragement whatever. Even the 
few who cherished ideas of their own feared to follow 
them as principles of life lest their ideas might be contrary 
to the teachings of recognized authority. 

But now men are beginning to think for themselves. 
They are learning that each individual has a mind of his 
own for no other reason than to use in doing his own think- 
ing. They are beginning to understand that the new cycle 
with its interpretation actually has for its foundation the 
principles of teachers and philosophers which men thought 
they had been follov/ing, v/hereas, in reality, they had ac- 
cepted the teachers merely as external authority, and their 
teachings merely as a creed or a dogma v/ith no adequate 
comprehension of their meaning. Men are beginning to 
realize that the value of teachings rests in the very fact 
of their being applied to the needs of daily life. To become 
convinced of the practical aspects of a philosophy or of a 



138 The Way to Life and Immortality 

system of living, is to lead one to think for oneself. No 
one else can determine in detail the needs of an individual 
life, neither can external authority solve the problems that 
belong to the individual life. A great Master may 
interpret and expound general principles; but each 
individual must study and think and contemplate" 
for himself in order to have an intelligent comprehension 
of general principles in their adaptability to daily need. Of 
this fact men are becoming convinced. As a consequence, 
they are beginning to honor their own power of thought 
by trusting its conclusions. 

The moment man begins truly to think, the moment 
he says to fear "Get thee behind me, Satan," at that mo- 
ment will he really begin to live. For, with the thinking, 
will come newness of life, which will be an incentive for 
more independent thinking and an incentive to action, an 
incentive to dare, to do, and to live. Thinking, acting, and 
living in harmony with the Divine Law in time results in a 
new life, a life that is worth the living. This new life often 
brings a struggle because it is not entirely in harmony with 
the ideas of those around us ; but, when the mind is fully 
awakened to the ideal of a new life, it is not easily led 
astray, but persists in following the path indicated by the 
Law. 

Fear is not life. It is death. In reality, fear is hell. 
If there were no other deadly passions or vices to punish 
us, fear alone would be a hell terrible enough to satisfy 
the most orthodox. It is fear that prevents man from 
doing his best, fear to think, fear to act, fear to be an in- 
dividual, fear to do this and to do that. To be under the 
thraldom of fear is a bondage, aye, even a bondage worse 
than the Hebrews are said to have suffered in ancient 
Egypt. 

The Illuminati are teaching men to free themselves 
from the bondage of fear, to free themselves from all un- 
desirable conditions^ and to live as they think they should 



'The Way to Life and Immortality 139 

live, in spite of the opinions of men and in spite of 
authority-taught doctrines. They teach men to free them- 
selves from every fear except one — fear of the Divine 
Law when they do contrary to the dictates of their own 
conscience. There is no true freedom in disobeying that 
which one knows to be right. This fear man must encour- 
age. This is fear of God, fear to dishonor and to disobey 
Him. In this sense, fear of God is reverence and devo- 
tion. 

The incentive for man to overcome fear is twofold. 
First, there is the freedom from fear, which in itself is a 
great satisfaction. Second*, there is the satisfaction of 
realizing that fear may be transmuted into power. Thus, 
the principle by which fear is overcome is both positive 
and negative. It insures freedom from an undesirable 
state ; but, in addition to this, it insures a positive, active 
power to take the place of the undesirable state of fear. 
Fear is to be overcome through the Law of Transmutation. 
The power expended or wasted in fear is to be transmuted, 
or changed, into power for good, power to accomplish 
and to achieve. Every passion known to man, every chain 
and fetter that holds him, when changed, becomes just as 
great a power for good. For this reason, the Illuminati 
do not advocate destroying, or killing out, or stifling, any 
passion or tendency no matter how undesirable it may be. 
They teach men how to change the undesirable into desir- 
able, hov/ to turn the direction of power into desirable 
cliannels. 

A hell of fire and brimstone finds no place in the 
teachings of the Illuminati. Hell as a place in which man 
is punished for things done that should not have been 
done, is not recognized by the Illuminati. That man is 
punished for his sins either here or in the hereafter is an 
erroneous idea. That _he is punished by his sins here and 
now as well as in the hereafter is a truth that each indi- 
vidual ought to comprehend. Of those conditions whicl], 



140 The Way to Life and iMMORfALiTY 

punish man, fear is one of the most terrible. The man who 
fears is in hades, or hell, as surely as man eve^r can be. 
Who knows not the awful suffering caused by waiting for 
something to happen which one thinks is to happen? The 
fer.r, the suspense, the dread, the uncertainty — this is 
hell! Sitting and waiting, expecting something to happen, 
fearing to move, fearing to act, fearing to think, aye, even 
fearing to breathe — this is hell, destructive to soul and body 
alike! 

But such conditions must pass away. Man must be- 
com.e the master. He must understand the promises made 
to him by the Divine Will. He must do more than under- 
stand them, he must believe and trust them. Not merely in 
a formal way but in a practical way must he trust them, 
manifesting his faith by acting as if he had faith in the 
promises of God. He must think, act, and live according 
to his faith in the Lav/. As he does this, it may be with 
shrinking in the beginning, he will gradually free himself 
from fear. Fear is a terrible nothing, which gives v/ay as 
ktiowledge and understanding increase. 

Fear can not be mastered by mere faith in a promise 
of God. It can be overcome only by living in harmony 
with the Divine Law upon which the promise rests. Fear 
as well as all other undesirable conditions give way only as 
we manifest faith in the Divine Law by living in har- 
mony with it. For thus do we grow into love and wisdom 
and true understanding. In exact proportion as one grows 
in love and wisdom does fear vanish. "Perfect love cast- 
eth out fear." 

Life throughout is a growth. All true knowledge is 
a growth. Mere belief in the truth of a statement does 
not constitute knowledge. Mere acceptance of the state- 
ments of another does not constitute knowledge. Knowl- 
edge is that which we feel within us, that v/hich we realize 
to be a part of our very lives, that which we know because 
^it 'is a part of our consciousness. The more we live in 



The Way to Life and Immortality 141 

harmony with the Divine Law, the more true knowledge 
sliall we receive. Knowledge is like a mustard seed. Ac- 
cept a little and live accordingly, and it will bring us into 
more and more knowledge, and deliver us more and more 
from the bondage of fear and ignorance. Fear is the out- 
growth of ignorance and error. Courage, faith, and hope 
are the outgrowth of knowledge and love. All conditions 
imder which man suffers have a work to perform, a mis- 
sion to fulfil, a purpose to satisfy. Through them, man 
gains knowledge and wisdom. Without suffering, man 
could not know what freedom from suffering means. With- 
out having knovv^n fear man could not understand or ap- 
preciate freedom from the bondage of fear. Without 
knowledge of hate, man could not realize the power and 
the beauty of love. Without experiencing the absence of 
love, little would he know of the potency and the efficacy 
of love. Thus with all the passions and vices and unde- 
sirable conditions. Man must know of them in order to 
choose their opposite. The only reason for knowing evil 
is to enable one to choose the good. Nor does this indi- 
cate that man must indulge in evil for the sake of appre- 
ciating the good, nor that he must deliberately experience 
■\\rong and error and sin and suffering for the sake of 
knowing the value of their opposite. 

The work of man, now that he is on tlie earth plane, 
is to transmute all undesirable things, no matter v/hat they 
are, into desirable. This is true whether it concerns the 
destructive passions, hale, anger, malice, ill-Vi,'ill, or whether 
it concerns the deadly poison, fear, or whether it concerns 
any other undesirable habit to which our natures cling. 
They must all be changed into health, strength, harmony, 
wisdom, happiness, and finally and ultimately into Immor- 
tality. Also, thus is it with that which we now consider 
a task, a duty, a yoke, that which we carry not because 
we must but because we think we must. Even this may 
be transformed from a yoke of bondage into a garland of 



142 The Way to Life and Immortality 

flowers, a yoke of love, a privilege, Vx^hich we would not 
j)art with even if we could free ourselves from it. 

Man must be bound to something. Otherwise, he would 
stand alone and separate from all else. But his is the 
choice of the bond'. He may choose fear and the bondage 
that results from fear, leading ultimately to death. Or, he 
may choose love and all that comes with the divine pas- 
sion love, leading ultimately to Life and Light and Im- 
mortality. 

The very beginning of the true life, of all true knowl- 
edge, and even of the very end itself — Individual Immor- 
tality and Sonship with the Father — is at the moment man 
accepts the glorious truth that he is created in the image 
of the Father, the truth that in himself are all powers, all 
capabilities, all that is in God, the fir^t Creator, though in 
less degree, in fact, the trutli that man is the temple of 
the living God. But this is only the very beginning. This 
is the point from which he makes the start. Having ac- 
cepted this truth, he must, like the builder of temples and 
mansions, learn the art of building from the very founda- 
tion up until the temple is finished. He must learn what 
material to accept, what material to refuse. He must learn 
how to direct the work, and how to continue faithfully 
until the building is complete and beautiful in its perfection. 

When mian accepts the first truth, the foundation prin- 
ciple, and begins to build according to his understanding 
of the truth, he will also begin to know what it means to 
be free, not only free from bondage but free from those 
other things which bind him through fear. As he begins 
to live, so will he begin to grow. As he grows, so will he 
manifest those fruits which are always the result of natural 
growth. 

Man is not made to fear. Man is not made to suffer, 
surely not made to die. Man is made to be free, free and 
fearless as is his Creator. He is made to enjoy life, and 
to know happiness, He is made in the image of the Father, 



The Way to Life and Immortality 143 

to live forever. And so shall he live forever when he has 
freed himself from fear, from limitations and from those 
race beliefs v/hich now bind him to the enemy that leads 
to death. 

The soul seed that is now in man could not gain knowl- 
edge without the body, the flesh that is of the earth and 
earthly limitations; consequently, through its own volition, 
it fell into matter and into the shortcomings and limita- 
tions of matter. It is impossible for the soul again to know 
God and become like Him and to return to its ideal state, 
though retaining the knowledge it has gathered during the 
earth life, without accepting the great truth that the pres- 
ent life is not only for the purpose of gaining knowledge 
and understanding but more especially for the purpose of 
redeeming the soul from all undesirable conditions. The 
s<>ul redeems itself not through some special favor granted 
It by God, but through its own efforts, through its own 
worthiness, and through its own desires and volition. 

Redemption, full and complete and perfect, has ref- 
erence not only to the soul but to the body as well. Final 
redemption means freedom of body and soul. The body 
shall become purified and freed from the elements that hold 
the carnal being. The body shall become partner and co- 
A\orker with the soul, sharing its pleasures, its joys, and 
its harmonious conditions with the soul, states which the 
soul can not enjoy alone. 

To what desire in man can we point above all others 
to prove that death is not planned by the Divine Will as 
the goal for man? What desire, above all others, holds 
most men, and is the strongest in men ? Search man, search 
all men, for the deepest desire of the heart, not merely for 
that which they claim to desire but for that which they 
actually desire in their hearts. There are those, number- 
less indeed, who, not having health, desire health. There 
arc those, numberless also, who, not having love, desire 
love. There are those, multitudes of them, who, not hav- 



144 The Way to Life and Immortality 

ing worldly possessions, desire possessions. And there are 
multitudes who desire other things. But these are not 
the great desire in the universal human heart. They are 
strong desires, it is true; but there is one greater, one 
stronger, a universal desire — that is, the desire for life. 

According to the Masters and the Philosophers, it is 
actually possible for man to attain that which his heart 
desires, provided he is willing to make the effort, to give 
the self-denial and the struggle necessary to attainment. 
This being admitted, who is there to deny that the desire 
for life, being the strongest and being universal with a few 
exceptions, is therefore a desire capable of fulfilment? Es- 
pecially must we grant this when we learn that every true 
teacher and philosopher, including the Master Jesus, 
promised the redemption of both soul and body. 

Eternal life will not come to man through a knowl- 
edge of eugenics merely and through obedience to the 
laws of race improvement. Nor will it come through per- 
fection of body only, no matter how desirable that may be. 
Life eternal is possible only when men understand that it 
is necessary to perfect both body and soul at the same 
time; when they understand that with the desire for con- 
tinued life they must also desire a perfected, a developed, 
an illumined, souL This twofold desire^ — the desire for 
perfection of both body and soul — must charge every cell, 
every atom, in the entire body. Thus every cell is charged 
with life, not only v/ith physical life, so-called, but with 
spiritual, heavenly life as well. 

This can be accomplished. It is only necessary for 
the human family to accept the promise, and, having ac- 
cepted it, to live according to the teachings and the laws 
given with the promise. Think of life ; but, while thinking, 
also live in harmony with the thoughts of life. Charge 
every cell of the body with the thought of life. Charge 
every cell of the body, not with fear, but with freedom; 
jiot -vvith hate, but w'ith love; not with grudges and ill-will 



The Way to Life and Immortality 143 

but with forgiveness ; net with envy of the possessions of 
others, but Vv'ith blessings to them, blessings and the sincere 
\\'ish that their blessings may bring them happiness and 
fuller life- -with blessings to them and with the wish that 
you yourself may gain possessions, not theirs, but your 
own, to bring happiness and satisfaction. 

Life is always life. It is in the living that we gain 
the results of living, no matter according to what doctrine 
we live, whether it be the doctrine of life or of death. God 
is the God of life ; but He prevents no one from following 
the doctrine of death and of partaking thereof. 



146 The Way to Life and Immortality 



CHAPTER THmiEEN 

TBE WRONG LIFE, THE LIFE OF SIN_, ALONE BRINGS DEATH. 

What is sin? 

On the answer to this question depends everything in 
so far as it has to do with a full life. 

Not only is sin something which affects the soul and 
gives it its status in the life beyond death, but it is some- 
thing which affects man here and now. Sin has been con- 
sidered as a wrong committed which denies him entrance 
into the realm of bliss in the Hereafter. It has been con- 
sidered as acts committed daily, perhaps hourly, including 
evil thoughts and evil deeds and wrong living, the only di- 
rect effect of which is to prevent man's entrance into a 
realm of delight and joy and peace. It has been considered 
as thoughts, desires, and acts which are contrary to the 
will of God. While it is true that these acts do affect the 
status of the soul in the Hereafter, and that they do affect 
its relation to God, by no means do their effects end here. 
That they affect the personality and the individuality, that 
they aff"ect the health and strength and efficiency, that they 
affect the peace and the satisfaction and the harmony of 
life here and now is a truth that needs to gain a stronger 
hold on the race consciousness. 

In Soul Science, the Illuminati teach and hold as an 
absolute fact that any thought, any desire, or any act, no 
matter what its nature, is a sin if in any v.ay it is injur- 
ious either to the participant or to anyone else. On the 
other hand, they hold it not merely as an article of faith 
but as an actual truth that any thought, any desire, or 
any act which is not injurious to the participant and which 



148 The Way to Life and Imieortality 

does not bring suffering and sorrow to anyone else is 
neither a wrong nor is it a sin. From this, it is seen that 
there is no difference bet\Veen what is called a sin and 
what is called wrong doing or wrong living or working 
against the interests of others. In principle, they are the 
same. From this, it appears that hygienic law is on an 
equality with moral and ethical law; that care of the body 
is as important as regard for the soul; that habits which 
concern the welfare of the physical being, whether in re- 
gard to food and drink or in regard to any other factor of 
health and efficiency, are to be classed as injurious or non- 
injurious, and consequently as right or wrong, as upright 
or sinful. To ir^dulge in eating or in drinking that which 
is harmful to the physical being is not only a wrong to the 
person, but is actually committing a sin — a sin that affects 
Ihe^ soul as well as harms the personality here and now. 
Sin is a death-bringing agency, a destructive principle, a 
harmful and injurious habit. To lead the wrong life — 
wrong merely in that it concerns the physical being — is 
living a sinful, a death-bringing, life. 

In the earth life, the body is as important as the soul. 
Otherwise, God would not have given man a body. To 
entertain happy, wholesome, generous thoughts is not all 
of righteousness. The thoughts and the desires of an in- 
dividual may be fr,ee from carnality and free from every 
form of selfishness, jealousy, envy, ill-will, in short his 
life may be apparently a model one; but, if he gives his 
entire attention to business or to the work at hand, if he 
does not give the physical being the attention it deserves, 
if he does not allow time for sleep and does not provide 
proper food so that the body is recuperated and nourished 
— then, it follows that he is guilty of violating physical 
laws and is consequently guilty of sin and error as truly 
as if he violated so-called moral law. 

Moreover, God is a just God, which means that He 
is a God who balances all things; for only in the balance 



The Way to Life and Immortality 149 

and ill perfect equilibrium of all things is there justice. 
It follows, therefore, that the body is no less important 
than the soul, nor is the soul greater than the body, since 
the soul's greatness depends in large degree on the perfec- 
tion and the purity of the body, and the perfect, well- 
balanced soul can not dwell in an unclean body. 

Thus, it follows that the wrong life is the smful life, 
and the sinful life is the life that brings disease, sorrow, 
suit'ering, and, in the end, an ignoble death— d'eath which 
was never intended by God, death which became a neces- 
sity only when man gave up the true rule of life and ac- 
cepted the belief that death of the physical is necessary, 
thus charging and magnetizing the cells of the body with 
the thought of death and the necessity thereof. 

God made man in His own image. That is, as God is 
sinless and ever living, knowing no death, so did he make 
man. But with perfection he gave man free-will, a faculty 
that He also possesses. Being perfect, God holds only 
perfect beliefs. He gave perfect beliefs to man ; and man, 
as first made, was perfect. But he was not satisfied with 
siniplicity and perfection. Consequently, he used the pow- 
er, or the gift, of free-will for wrong purposes. Thus, did 
he gradually fall into those conditions, desires, and beliefs 
wliich made death a necessity. Having been made perfect, 
man should therefore be sinless, and as a natural conse- 
quence, he should be deathless. 

The Illuminati regard it as a fundamental truth that 
man may gradually and naturally find the path that leads 
to sinless, sorrowless, deathless life. But, in order to do 
this, he must make two important changes. First, he must 
change his thoughts and his desires and his beliefs. He 
must entertain only thoughts and desires and beliefs which 
harmonize v/ith the doctrine of a life that is free from illness, 
sorrow, and death. Second, he must change his life and 
conduct to coincide with the change made in thought and 
desire and belief. He must begin living the natural life, 



150 The Way to Life and Immortality? 

giving to his body the food and the drink, the recreation 
and the rest, which God intended it to have. 

He must cease making business his supreme god, the 
god that claims all his thoughts and desires and all his 
time. He must hve for the sake of living. He must not 
live merely because he wants to be successful in business 
and outdistance his competitors. He must not sacrifice 
pleasures, friends, family; and, last and greatest, he must 
not sacrifice his soul and his God for business as the multi- 
tudes are doing. But he must give each and all of these 
interests part of his time, as much as the Divine Law, 
the Natural Law, demands for his own welfare. There are 
those who will say that this is impossible. But proofs are 
at hand that man does sooner or later satisfy the Law in 
this respect. If he does not do it willingly, the Great Law 
demands it by taking him from his business through sick- 
ness, or through suffering, or through misfortune, and 
finally through an immature death. 

The question then comes. What is man willing to do? 
Is he willing to apportion his time judiciously among the 
varied interests that should claim his attention? Is he 
willing to meet the normal demands of his nature for de- 
velopment of body, for recreation and pleasures? Is he 
willing to satisfy the demands of his soul and the voice of 
God speaking through his soul? Is he willing to live the 
natural, normal life, a life that is free from disease and 
suffering, a life that is long and happy, a life that achieves 
success on all planes of being? Or does he prefer to live 
the strenuous life, the life that has no time for physical 
development or temple-building or natural pleasures, no 
time for home and friends and God, a life that has time 
only for business and zealous competition? 

With man is the choice. He can choose the sinless 
life — that is, the natural, normal life. Or he may choose 
the unnatural, death-bringing life. His is the choice. 

The principle that concerns m^n also concerns woman. 



The Way to Life and Immortality 151 

The same law that governs man also governs woman. In 
the case of woman, however, it is slavery of another kind, 
not thraldom under business demands, but slavery to un- 
necessary home cares, to dress, to society, and to hundreds 
ot other concerns which seem necessary to womankind, 
but which are unnatural and abnormal. The interests to 
which woman becomes a slave she herself admits are not 
a source of true happiness. She follows them in the same 
spirit in which a man follows his business, simply because 
competitors are to be outdistanced. 

Such subjects as these are not generally supposed to 
have any connection with a philosophy that concerns the 
soul and man's relation with God. They are, nevertheless, 
the very foundation of freedom from disease and suffer- 
ing, and freedom from sorrow and unhappiness. They are 
the very foundation of a long and useful life, of soul de- 
velopment, and of Illumination, and finally of the attain- 
ment of heaven and Immortality. They are the founda- 
tion upon which the temple structure is to be erected. If 
the foundation upon which man builds is unsound, the 
whole structure will be insecure and will not bear the 
test of time. 

Man is created in the image of God — that is, in the 
image of the Perfect. He bears the image, or the possi- 
bility, of perfection in respect to body and soul and spirit 
alike. Although this likeness to the Perfect is only in 
embryo, it is none the less a veritable possibility of per- 
fection. Then why should man be sinful? Why should 
he do those things which ate conducive neither to perfec- 
tion of body nor to perfection of mind and soul? And yet 
it is to be freely admitted that practically all men are liv- 
ing and thinking contrary to the Law of Perfection as it 
regards body and mind and soul. 

Generally considered, man is a carnal, sinful being — ■ 
a creature of wrong acting and wrong thinking, one who 
^ets at naught both Natural and Divine Law. It is foir 



152 The Way to Life and Immortality 

this reason that he is punished. Not the anger of a just 
God but his own acts and his own thoughts are responsible 
for the punishment that he suffers. Not by God is he 
punished but by the thoughts and the acts and the desires 
of which he himself is guilty. When sickness, sorrow, and 
finally death come to him, he blames God, he blames Na- 
ture, he blames everything except himself — the very one' 
that is indeed accountable for that which befalls him. 

So much has been taught concerning the Divine Law 
and the laws of nature that man can not plead ignorance 
regarding them. Although many doctrines have been given 
a false representation, yet, if man followed them accord- 
ing to the best light he possesses, his condition would be 
far better than it is. Even if he followed prevalent teach- 
ings merely because he thought they concerned the soul 
in its future state he would even then be far better than 
he is at the present time. 

But _we are now reaching an age in which man must' 
know not only that religion concerns the soul but that it 
ii actually the Law of God covering every department of 
his nature. Or, if one does not claim to believe in God, 
let him understand that religion is the Law of Nature, 
and that it deals primarily with the well-being of the body 
and with all those things which really concern life in its 
first application to man. Let him understand also that in 
proportion as religion is applied to the life of man on the 
material plane so v/ill it have its effect on the soul plane. 

Religion will come to be understood as the Lav^r of 
Life. Life, in this sense, refers to existence as it is from 
the moment that the Divine Spark leaves the Creator, no 
matter v-^ho or what is thought of as the Creator, down 
through its birth, onw^ard through life, and still onward 
until man enters the Lnmortal Life. It matters not where 
life shall continue, whether on the present plane of being 
or in the Beyond in the soul realm, nevertheless, true re- 
ligion is the Law of Life and includes everything that con- 
cerns man on every plane of his being. 



The Way to Life and Immortality 153 

God is not a sinful, nor a sorrowful, nor yet a dying 
God. God is Life. God is Light." God is Love. God is 
V\ isdom. God is Happiness. God is Eternity. Man is 
created in the image of Light, of Love, of Happiness, of 
Life Eternal. Man is heir to all of these things; but he 
can enter upon his inheritance only as he complies with 
the Divine Will which has existed since the very beginning 
of time. Unless he obeys the requirements of the Divine 
\Vill in its true spirit rather than according to the letter, 
he can not inherit the benefits and the blessings that the 
Divine Will wishes to confer upon him. Thus, as God is 
an eternal reality, free from undesirable things, so can man 
be free from those conditions which none desire if he is 
willing to obey the Divine Law and lead the life that nor- 
mal, natural, divine man should live. 

As man now is, he may conclude that this means self- 
denial and the giving up of all those things which make 
life worth the living. But this is a false conclusion. True 
religion denies man none of the tilings that are good for 
him. It denies him no honest, wdiolesome recreation. It 
does not deny social intercourse nor does if forbid him an 
honest business or the following of an honorable profes- 
sion. Neither music nor flowers nor the beauties of nature 
or of art are denied him. The true religion forbids noth- 
ing except that which is not good for one. It denies one 
only those pleasures, so-called, which bring no good but 
plenty of ill, those things which bring sorrow and pain 
and death. And who can say that these things are act- 
ually desirable and that they form a necessary part of 
life? 

In the teachings of Soul Science, the Illuminati en- 
courage everything that is for the well-being of man. They 
attempt to teach only those things which will help him to 
become a perfect being, one that lives right and believes 
right. They teach that perfect faith is necessary, and that 
it is necessary to live in harmony v.ith perfect faith. This 
is the Way to Life and Immortalitv. 



154 The Way to Life and Immortality 



CHAPTER FOU^TEEM 

HEALING OF THE SICK, POSSIBLE. 

Those who have learned the truth either through ex- 
perience in the world or through training receive a two- 
fold command from God. First, they are to teach the truth 
to the multitudes that do not yet know the truth. Second, 
they are responsible for heeding the divine command, 
"Heal the sick." Consequently, those who fulfil their full 
duty must teach and heal, teach and heal those who come 
to them in faith. 

In this department of the great work— that concerning 
leaching the truth and concerning healing — little can be ac- 
complished unless the teacher-healer demands faith in the 
possibility of healing and faith in its realization. This is 
not unnatural nor is it unreasonable. Moreover, we find 
that all teacher-healers, including the Master Jesus, de- 
manded faith on the part of those who came to them for 
healing. Unless they had faith they could not be healed. 
This is not an arbitrary demand on the part of the teacher- 
healer. It is rather to be considered as a necessary condi- 
tion of healing, a state of mind that makes it possible for 
the sufferer to receive or to appropriate healing power. 
In this sense only, is faith essential. The law of healing 
is expressed in the oft-repeated saying of Jesus, "Accord- 
ing to thy faith so be it unto thee." 

In healing the sick, something more is required on the 
part of the healer than use of healing power. It is abso- 
lutely necessary for the teacher-healer to teach the Divine 
Taw, the natural life, to those who come to him. Unless 
he does this, though he may heal them for the time being, 



1S6 The Way to Life and iMMORtALitY 

the disease or some other disease will return ; for that 
which caused disease in the first place will cause a recur- 
rence of it. 

In Soul Science, the Illuminati hold it as an absolute 
fact that wrong living, or unnatural living, as regards food, 
drink, sleep, exercise and employment of mind and body, 
i? a sin because it is in violation of divine and natural law. 
He who so sins will be afflicted sooner or later with some 
disease, no matter how great his faith may be, unless he 
lives in harmony with his faith and' puts his faith into 
practical effect. God desires man not only to have faith 
in His goodness but to live in harmony with the faith he 
possesses. The Illuminati hold that the sufferer's faith in 
the healer and in the power of God through the healer 
may be so great that disease which has aft'licted the body 
for many years may fall away as though it ha3^ not e>:isted. 
But they further hold that if his life in the future is not 
in accordance wuth natural law the body can not remain 
free from disease and suffering. This is the teaching of all 
true Masters, including Jesus. 

That illness is in reality sin, or the result of sin, is 
amply indicated in the sayings of Jesus. In some instances, 
he said, "Be thou whole" — that is. Be thou free from 
disease. In others, he said, "Thy sins be forgiven thee." 
Yet again, "Go thy way and sin no more." This saying 
concerns the future of the one healed, and indicates clear- 
ly and undeniably that a recurrence to sin would result in 
a recurrence of the same disease or in some other difficulty. 
Consequently, the Illuminati maintain that the chief duty 
of the healer is to teach those whom they heal the laws of 
life, natural and normal methods of living, even the PVay of 
Life. It is as important for them to understand how to 
keep free from sin and disease and suffering as it is to be 
healed in the first place. 

Yet again, the mission of the teacher-healer extends 
further even than this. Not onlv to the bodv does he min- 



The Way to Life and Iim mortality 157 

ister, freeing it from its load of p^'m and suffering, but the 
heart of the sufferer he heals, the heart that is also heavily 
laden with sorrow caused by sin. The heart that is free 
from sin has no sorrow. It understands the things that 
come to it, and even the passing away of a loved one does 
not bring it the pain and the anguish that come to the 
heart that sins. The heart that is free knov/s that death 
is only a transition, that "passing away" is only temporary. 
The heart that is set free from sin does more than believe ; 
for in belief there may be sufl'ering: it knows, and in 
knowledge there is freedom. 

Why should faith on the part of tlie sufferer be neces- 
sary if God is all-inclusive? Why should not the teacher- 
healer be able to charge and to magnetize the body of the 
afflicted with healing vibrations so as to free him from 
illness in spite of lack of faith? 

In answer to this question, let it be understood that 
the Law ever has been and ever will be that a substance, 
no matter what its nature, cannot receive unless it is pre- 
pared to receive. Thus, in the making of a magnet, not 
every substance will receive the charge of electricity and 
retain a part of it and through its power become a magnet. 
Only certain substances can be charged and become mag- 
nets. All things are under natural law. The body of the 
sick is under natural law. Though charge upon charge of 
healing power might be sent through the diseased body, 
health will not be brought to it unless the body has been 
prepared to receive and to retain the healing power. Now, 
faith is the agency that prepares the body to receive and to 
retain healing power. If the afflicted one has not faith in 
the healer and in healing power, he is like the piece of metal 
that is unprepared for the electric charge. The charge is 
received by the metal; but, instead of being retained, it 
goes right through the metal, and nothing is accomplished. 

The greater the faith, the greater will be the result. 
If faith is strong and unwavering, the healing power, on 



i58 The Way to Life and Immortality 

being received, will so charge and magnetize every cell of 
the body that the vibration of health, being higher and more 
intense than the vibration of disease, will literally burn out 
the diseased condition and will charge and magnetize the 
cells of the body with health. Thus those who were suf- 
fering will be made whole. Thus sins will be forgiven. 
Such is the promise. 

From this, it is to be seen that the law is, "According 
to thy faith, so shall it be unto thee." There is no power 
on earth, none in heaven, none under the earth or in the 
sea, which can heal the afflicted body and mind if there 
is not faith, faith that shall receive and retain the healing 
pov^^er as it flows from the fountain of life — directly from 
the Godhead, the Great Storehouse of Light and Life and 
Love, through the teacher-healer to the suffering one. 

The old theory that it is God, or the Lord, or Jesus, who 
performs the work of healing is denied by the Illuminati. 
To be sure, the healing power comes from God; but He 
is not the healer in an arbitrary sense any more than He 
is the one who commits the sins that cause the diseases. 
Man who thinks wrong and lives wrong — he it is who, 
through wrong thinking and v/rong living, brings disease 
and suffering and sorrow upon himself. Likewise, through 
right thinking and right living and through faith in health, 
man will draw to himself and will retain the vibrations and 
the power that shall overcome disease and suffering and 
sorrow, and that shall restore health. True it is that the 
healing power belongs to God. But it is by no means cor- 
rect to say that God gives it. Rather, He allows man to 
take it. He permits man to receive and to use it. Man is 
not a slave, he is free. Man is not the supplicator of God, 
he is a partaker with God. Man is free to use, to receive, as 

he will. 

God has made man in His own image. He has also 
created a storehouse of life, of force, of energy. To man 
H? has given the key to this Universal Storehouse. This 



The Way to Life and Immortality 159 

key man is free to use according to his need. The key is 
faith and Hfe. He who has faith and he who will live, is 
enabled to draw from this storehouse as much as he can 
use. The more he uses, the more he can draw therefrom. 
Neither does God give to him nor does He deny him. Man 
is free to accept and he is free to use. 

There are conditions, however, to the acceptance and 
the use of these powers and energies. The first condition 
is faith. The second condition is that man shall live ac- 
cording to his faith. If he does not meet these two con- 
ditions, he loses the key to the Storehouse and can not 
draw therefrom. God does not force us to accept, but He 
gives us the privilege to draw on the Storehouse of the 
All Good. If we have lost the key, the power to draw there- 
from, and are in ne^d, it is often necessary for some one 
to act as intermediary, as agent between us and the Father. 
Ir is then that w^e have need of the true teacher-healer. 
Such service Jesus and the other Masters gave to mankind. 

The Illuminati maintain that God punishes no man, 
and that He sends neither sorrow nor misery nor sickness 
nor misfortune to anyone, but that man through his own 
thoughts and acts draws to himself the conditions that be- 
fall him. Not for his sins but by his sins is man punish- 
ed. The Law operates both w^ays. As he draws undesir- 
able conditions, disease, suffering, and misfortune through 
his manner of thought and his manner of life, so may he 
draw to himself the things that are desirable, such as Life, 
Light, Love, and Immortality. Instead of thinking, de- 
siring, and living the life that leads to death, he begins 
to think, desire, and to live the life that leads to Life Eter- 
nal, and "all things are added unto him." Through his 
ciianged manner of thought, of feeling, of life, he draws 
to himself not disease, not sorrow, not death, but Life and 
I ight and Love. God gives neither the one nor the other. 
He merely permits man to draw from the Storehouse and 
to use. God denies man nothing, neither good nor bad. 



160 The Way to Life and Im mortality 

He gives man the privilege to do as he pleases and to bear 
the result of his doing. 

In a very true sense, it is not God who restores the 
sick and the suffering. Faith and living according to faith 
— this it is which restores to health the sick and the suf- 
fering. Nor is it God Vv^ho takes life. Nor is it He who 
sets the time of death, nor is it He who numbers the days 
cf man's life. He gives man the privilege of living, and 
of obeying the Law, and of living in accordance with the 
Law. Clearly does He indicate that to him who fully obeys 
there shall be neither sickness nor death. But He gives 
man no reason to believe that God, the Father, will over- 
come death for man. Lie makes the truth unmistakably 
clear that man must overcome death for himself. This he 
must do not by faith alone, but by w^orks according to 
faith, and by living the life that knows no death. 

The past cycle, the past age, has believed and has 
taught to suffering humanity that redemption, salvation, 
immortality do not concern the body. No matter how pain- 
racked the body might be, no matter how diseased, no 
matter how great its suffering, if man has faith in salva- 
tion, faith that at death the soul will fly to heaven — hu- 
manity has been taught that wnth such a faith as this sal- 
vation would be complete. But that age is ended. Men 
now know, even those who do not believe in religion, that 
salvation is not of the soul alone, but that it concerns the 
body as w^ell. They know that the body is only the reflec- 
tor of the soul. They know that the soul within, when it 
has reached Illumination and enlightenment, will illumine 
the whole body. They knov/ that as is the God within, so 
will become the body without; and, in like manner, as is 
the body, so must be the soul, because the body when made 
perfect is the temple of the living God. 

But we must not overlook the fact that the body may 
be perfect in appearance, that it may be healthy as a body, 
and yet be destitute of goodness, destitute of soul. For 



The Way to Life and Immortality 161 

there are animal natures in the form of mankind wherein 
is neither goodness nor soul. These can scarcely be classed 
v.s human beings. They are healthy and of good form 
hke the anim.al that is well fed and well tended. Further- 
more, they resemble the animal in that their thoughts, like 
the instinct of the animal, make no impression upon them. 
Like the animal, they are pawns in life's great being. They 
come and they go. They live and they pass on. 

But, says the critic, How can this be consistent with 
the teaching that every thought, every desire, every act, 
makes an impression upon the body and produces corre- 
sponding effects? 

flrue indeed it is that thought, desire, and act leave 
llje impress of their character upon the body and aft'ect the 
body accordingly. This is a Law not to be ignored. But 
there is another Great Law, a Law not generally known. 
To illustrate : a dog may be perfect in every respect, yet 
be possessed of a vicious temper, a temper that makes the 
dog dangerous, so that it is not safe to give him freedom 
lest he injure those v/ho come near. The vicious nature 
of the dog does not shorten his life, nor does it interfere 
with digestion of food, nor does it impair the health of the 
dog. \\niy not? Simply because it is the nature of the 
dog, and he lives according to his nature. Had the dog a 
soul, a something in his being which gives him the right 
and the power of choice, then viciousness would act as a 
poison to his system and would result in disease and suf- 
fering; but the dog has not a soul. Consequently, he is 
born, lives, and dies, what he is, merely a vicious dog. 

Hard as it may seem, there are those born in human 
form who are like the dog in nature. Through some cause, 
but always of their own choice, they have destroyed the 
individuality within. They no longer possess that some- 
thing, called the Divine Spark, which makes them respon- 
sible for their acts. They simply live the life of their na- 
ture, There is nothing within to receive and to reflect their 



162 The Way to T,ife and Tm mortality 

acts and their thoughts. Consequently, malicious thoughts, 
desires, and acts do not arouse a poisonous condition and 
disturb normal bodily functions. Thus, they are born, they 
live, and they die, according to their nature. 

This illustration prepares for a statement and a con- 
sideration of the Law. Man is body, mind, and spirit ; and 
within the three is that which we call the Divine Spark, or 
the soul. This divine spark, being of God and making man 
different from the animal, is that something which receives 
and stores impressions. It is the Reflector. All that the 
divine entity receives it will reflect. This reflection is 
shown in the body of man, for the body is the temple of 
God, the temple of the soul. But in those beings in whom 
there is no divine spark, in whom there is no reflector, as 
is also the case with animals, even though the nature is 
vicious, viciousness is not reflected in the personality and 
in the body, except possibly to make it more nearly per- 
fect ; for the natural animal is always perfect in its physi- 
cal being. 

The doctrine may seem hard; but it is in perfect har- 
mony with the teachings of God, with the teachings of 
philosophers and Masters, and absolutely in harmony with 
the teachings of Nature. Nature recognizes no soul in her 
creation; nevertheless, her manifestations are perfect. Man 
alone, having free-will and the spark of the divine, shows 
what kind of a creator he is, and reflects in his body the 
character of his acts, his desires, and his thoughts. The 
animal, on the other hand, being the product of nature 
alone, always manifests perfection because she is perfect, 
though changeable and never individualized in entities that 
continue permanently. 



CHAPTER FIFTEEN 

THERE IS NO REASON FOR MAN TO BE SICK. 

Why should man be sick? Why should he be living 
in sin ? 

There is no logical reason why man should not be liv- 
ing the higher life. That is, there is no reason why man 
should live a life that is sinful, nor is there any logical 
reason why he should be sick. 

Sin and sickness are really one and the same thing. 
The one results in the other. The fact is, sin — which is 
nothing more nor less than wrong living and wrong doing — 
is the cause of sickness, and, in the end, brings death as 
the final penalty. 

Sin is classed as sin because it is the opposite of good. 
It is sin not because God has said that man should not do 
thus and so, not because theology outlines it as sin, nor 
because philosophers have said that to do certain things is 
to commit sin ; but it is sin because it brings pain or sor- 
row, loss or misery, harm or injury, either to the one that 
commits it or to the one against whom it is committed. 
There is no other basis for sin than this. Therefore, sin 
is simply v/rong doing or wrong living. Why should man 
do the things that are Vi'rong. Simply because he has a 
Hiistaken idea in regard to life and conduct, an idea that 
has become a race belief and therefore a part of his na- 
ture. He has the mistaken notion that to do certain things 
will be to his advantage, will bring him profit or pleasure 
or honor. He does these things not because he wants to do 
them but because he lias been gradually led to believe that 
only in this way can he obtain the things that he desires. 



164 The Way to Life and Immortality 

There are actually few men who do wrong because 
of a love for the wrong. It is to be admitted, however, 
that there are men who do wrong because they love the 
wrong. Human nature is capable of being perverted. 
There are those whom v\'e call degenerate because they 
actually love to do that which natural and divine law points 
out as being wrong. They delight in doing things which 
are contrary to the laws of nature and the laws of God. 
They take pleasure in doing that which nature revolts at 
doing. But the class of society known as degenerates is 
in the minority and cannot be taken as a standard. The 
vast majority of mankind love the right. They do wrong 
only through the mistaken idea that what they are doing 
will bring honor, ease, success, or other desirable things. 

Doing -those things which in the mind and the heart 
are known to be wrong and out of harmony with the Law, 
doing them even with superficial thought and indifferent 
purpose — this it is which leaves its mark upon the body of 
man, and results in sickness and death. 

Who is there that does not know that anger is wrong, 
that it actually does no good, that it can not make a v/rong 
right? Humanity in general knows this. It is generally 
recognized that anger in itself is poisonous to mind and 
body, that it is a destructive power. Yet how many are 
there who control their anger? It is this which consti- 
tutes sin : to know that it is wrong, wrong not simply by 
reason of becoming angry, but wrong because anger in it- 
self is a poison and a destructive power; to know that 
au-ger is wrong and yet to give it place in one's life — this 
constitutes sin. By becoming angry, man liberates in his 
organism and sets into motion poisonous vibrations. This 
results in a disturbed condition of the organism and even 
induces illness. By virtue of this fact is anger sin. The 
results and the effects of an act or of a state of mind de- 
termine whether it is to be classed as sin or righteousness, 
as wrong or right. Thus it is a truth that sin is sickness 



The Way to Life and Immortality 165 

or that sickness is sin. Had the person not become angry 
and thus poisoned the Hfe blood, the particular aihiient that 
resulted from the poisonous state would not have come 
upon him. 

Again, wlio does not know that jealousy results in no 
good, that it can not remove the object of jealousy? Who 
does not understand that jealousy generates a poison which 
causes a diseased condition of the organism? Not the mere 
fact of being jealous constitutes sin. The fact that jealousy 
is a destructive power, that it does harm — this makes jeal- 
ousy a sin. The fact that the harm coming to the system 
through jealousy affects the soul — this makes jealousy a 
sin.. Again, sin and sickness are seen to be the same thing 
- -each, a reflection of the other. 

Thus it is with all the great passions, such as, hate, 
jealousy, malice, ill-will, and other dark and deadly feel- 
ings. They are destructive and poisonous in their charac- 
ter, and are therefore classed as sinful. But it is the sa;nc 
vith the minor passions, those which spring from tlie 
greater. It is possible for the minor passions to be so cov- 
ered up that they are hardly recognized. Nevertheless, 
th.cy are deadly in their ultimate results. 

But what is the remed}' for these sins, tiiese destruc- 
tive forces ? 

Tl;e answer is simple and plain, and comes thunder- 
ing down the cycles of tinie : Love, Forgiveness, and Good- 
will. 

Love, Forgiveness, and Good-will are the divine pas- 
sions, the cardinal virtues. It is these which will ultimate-! 
1}' destroy all gross and destructive passions. As man be- 
comes truly developed, he will change gross and destruc- 
tive passions into divine j^tassions. into creative and develop- 
ing power, and into constructive forces. 

But, says the seeker, Why should I love those who try 
to de.-.troy my happiness, those who sin against me, those 
who aim at ruining inC; those who would defame me? 



i6^ The Wa'-*^ to" L'lFfi ANI5 iMM6RfALIT? 

But why should you hate them that hate you? Do 
you think that hating them in return will change them? 
Will it cause them to stop hating you? Do you imagine 
that your hatred will do them any harm or that it will do 
you any good? Not at all. Except in very rare cases will 
your hatred do them harm or serve as a punishment to 
tliem. It will- only stimulate and intensify and exaggerate 
their hatred of you, thus making matters worse. It will by 
no means diminish their hatred of you. Nor v/ill it do 
yourself any possible good. But it will do positive harm 
to )^ourself ; for it will poison mind, and soul, and body. 

On the other hand, if you v/ere to change your hatred 
into love, the beneficent results to yourself would be in- 
tensified and doubled. In the first place, your own love 
and good-will toward them v/ill act as an attracting power, 
which draws out whatever good is in them, slowly it may 
be at first, but surely; and in time it will bring you their 
good-will, at least it will cause them to reflect, and to give 
up their evil designs against you. In the second place, 
your own hate changed into love acts as a vivifying power 
to yourself; and, instead of bringing illness and depression 
and sorrow, it brings more of health, more of love, and 
more of life. Whereas hatred and ill-will arouse poison- 
ous conditions resulting in disease and distress, forgive- 
ness and good-will is a health-inspiring tonic that promotes 
poise, peace, and health of body and mind. It may require 
a mighty mental effort to give love and forgiveness in ex- 
change for grudges, hatred, and ill-will. But the reward 
is proportionate to the effort, the gain is worth the price. 

As it is with the passion hatred, so is it with all other 
passions of destructive, negative nature. By being changed 
into life-giving, constructive passions, they bring good in 
return for that which would otherwise be destructive. As 
soon as men come to understand this truth they will honor 
the Law of Transmutation, which enables them to trans- 
mute the dr^ss of error md §in into tlie pure gold of love 



The Way to Life and Immortality 167 

and forgiveness and good-will. As soon as men realize 
tbat destructive passions do no good, that by indulging in 
them one can not change the plans or the feelings of others, 
then will they put forth effort to become free from the 
power of every type of evil passion. Gradually they will 
be enabled to give up sin ; and, with sin out of the way, 
sickness can not long remain. 

Now. in respect to sickness and the statement that sin 
is the cause of sickness, whether the sin be on our part or 
that of another, it is to be freely admitted that sin may 
be committed innocently or ignorantly. Nevertheless, every 
wrong, every act that is out of harmony with natural or 
divine law. is a sin and reaps the reward or the result ac- 
cording to his nature. It is a recognized fact that igno- 
rance of the Law excuses no one. For this reason, it be- 
hooves each one to understand the Law. The sooner we 
understand the requirements of the Law, the sooner shall 
we be free from all those things which are undesirable. 
Chief among the conditions from which knowledge of the 
Law and obedience to it will set us free ai^e sickness, sor- 
rov/, and failure. 

The object of life should be to become free from igno- 
rance and error ; to understand the Law ; to become accu- 
rate in discrimination for the sake of choosing the things 
that are constructive and upbuilding and life-giving, for 
the sake of rejecting the things that are destructive to 
life and all that is dear to life. Having learned these 
things, it is for us to live according to the constructive 
principle so that we may be continually improving the 
temple of life, and increasing the resisting, life-giving 
forces within us. This pertains not only to the body but 
to the soul as well. Life of the body alone is animal life. 
Life of body and soul is divine life; and no one can be 
truly human or truly god-like unless he honors life of bod> 
and soul alike, regarding one equal to the other in impor- 
tance, 



165 The Way to Life and ImmortalitV 

This is what Jesus called "the holy life." Living thus, 
honoring divine and natural law in daily life, attaining Il- 
lumination of Soul — this the Master Jesus called "receiv- 
ing the Holy Ghost." For when men cleanse the body, and 
free the soul from its grave of earth ; when they free the 
body from sin and from sickness— then do they reach Il- 
lumination, then do they receive the greater life, then do 
they enter here and now into the kingdor' of heaven. 

The Illuminati teach that the holy life is in the begin- 
ning a life of faith. Unless the one who desires the bene- 
fits of the holy life is willing so to live as to receive the 
benefits, in full and complete faith that he shall receive, 
there can be no results. But the Illuminati emphasize 
more especially that, when man awakens to these great 
truths, when he sees that it is to his benefit to live in har- 
mony with the Law, it is necessary for him to have faith 
s\ifficiently strong to enable him to continue living tlie 
life. Eventually, having made the beginning, he will be- 
come established in faith and in life, and the results oi^ 
his faith and of his living will become unmistakably mani- 
fest. 

Then he will no longer need to live by faith alone. 
For he lives through knov/ledge of the power. It is knowl- 
edge undeniable because he realizes results from living the 
life. Gradually, the holy life becomes his natural, normal 
mode of living, and ultimately brings him into conscious- 
ness of the Godhead, and into conscious oneness with the 
Divine Creator, Ruler of all things. 

Thus also is it with the sick and the afflicted. In the 
beginning, it is faith, faith with some degree of effort, it 
may be. The sufferer must have faith in God and in His 
promises. He must begin to educate and to train his 
thoughts, his desires, and his conduct in harmony with the 
Law, natural and divine. Gradually, the new life will set 
him free from disease and suffering, and will lead him to 
Illumination, to the holy life, the life without sin, Life Im-! 



The Way to' Life axd Immortality 169 

mortal and Eternal. 

We are not to think of God as the One who has power 
to free us from sickness and from sin. Rather, He is the 
One who has made man in His own im.age, and has en- 
dowed him with power to free himself from sin, power 
t^ cut the bonds that bind him to ignorance and error and 
sin, power to sever the chains that hold him to the earth 
and to all that is earthly. God is all power — this we must 
admit. But God does not use His power to help us. He 
delegates to us the right and the privilege of using Hi'^ 
power so that we may become free and manifest the God- 
hood within. 

It is as if our earthly parent, having abundant posses- 
sions, should give us the right to draw upon his resources. 
We have perfect right to draw upon his account to the 
full extent of pur need. But, according to the conditions 
specified by our parent, he v/ill not bring us the money, or 
give it to us, or help us to get it, even though we may be 
in great need or in dis^tress. His provision is this: "My 
son, there is plenty for you and for me. The fund is here. 
It is for you to draw upon as freely and as fibcrally as 
you desire. You are at perfect liberty to draw therefrom 
whatever you need. If you have not faith in my word, if 
you have not energy to accept the freedom I offer, then I 
can not help you." 

The power of God is sufficient to free all mankind 
from disease and from sorrow, from misery and from 
death. But He does not force His healing power. His sav- 
ing grace, upon any man. He does, hovv-ever, give man 
the privilege of drawing therefrom all that he needs. This 
stipulation, nevertheless, is attached: man must meet cer- 
tain conditions in regard to thought and conduct ; also, he 
must have faith sufficient to enable him to begin drawing 
on the account of the Infinite. As faith increases, the 
greater will be his power to lay hold of the resources of 
Infinite Goodness, 



170 The Way to Life and Immortality 

These truths the lUuminati teach. The teacher-healer 
makes it a special point to teach the true doctrine of life 
to those who are sick and suffering, to those who are in 
sin and in sorrow. Not only does he teach, but he gives 
help whenever possible. Those who are ready to receive 
shall be given the sublime instructions. The teacher-healer 
points the way, the way not only to freedom for body but 
to freedom for the soul. Mankind shall be taught what 
to believe and how to live the Holy Life, the Life that gives 
freedom and Illumination, the Life that leads to Soul Con- 
sciousness and to Sonship with the Father. Soul Science 
is the Way to Life and Immortality. 



CHAPTER SIXTEEN 

GOD AND NATURE^ THE ONLY PHYSICIANS. 

Man is of two constituent parts, each as important as 
the other. His body, the material nature, corresponds to 
the earth, and is under the control of nature. His soul, 
the spiritual being, corresponds to God, and is under Ui.i 
guidance. 

In saying that the body is ruled over by nature, and 
the soul by God, it must be understood that reference is 
made to the true man, the man not controlled or guided or 
ruled over by carnal desires. 

Contrary to many metaphysical schools, the Illuminati 
maintain that the flesh is as real and as important as the 
soul or the spirit of man. In fact, they maintain that the 
material is but another expression of spirit, a lower grade 
of the universal substance, that it is even necessary as a 
medium through which the soul may express itself. Fur- 
thermore, they maintain that nature is not the enemy of 
m.an, but that she is his guide, "the great physician" to the 
flesh of man, just as God is guide and physician to his 
soul. Body and soul are equally important. Each is es- 
sential to the other. The tv/o should be in equilibrium, 
then is man a perfect being. 

i That which is called disease may be of body or of 
mind or it may be of both mind and body. It may be 
purely of the flesh or it may be purely of the soul. Again, 
it may be, and often is, of both. The true physician, the 
true healer, will give careful consideration to both soul and 
body; for he understands that man is ruled either by one 
or by the other, or, in some cases, by the two in combina- 
tion, and that his remedies must affect both. 



172 The Way to Life and Im mortality 

It is not always true that Nature, even if given an 
opportunity, will heal the sick; for Nature alone does not 
reach the soul of man, though she w^ill do her best to heal 
the body. If the soul of man is ill from erroneous and 
perverted beliefs, thoughts, and desires, Nature alone can 
net effect a cure. The healing of an afflicted soul is lef- 
fected by God through the instrumentality of man who 
has a wise philosophy, a Wisdom Religion, to give to 
troubled souls. 

There can be no question that man will accept Soul 
Science as a religion when its principles are fully under- 
stood; for it is a rational and natural, though withal a 
mystic, religion. 

Fundamental among the principles of Soul Science, as 
advocated by the Illuminati, is the doctrine that the ma- 
terial, the physical, the flesh, is real, as real as are the 
spirit and the soul of man. The spirit and the soul of man'' 
can, to a great extent, minister to the mxaterial, to the 
body; but, in the main, Nature is the physician to the body 
of man. Nature, as a healer, includes all that concerns 
physical needs, as, food, clothing, exercise, work, rest, 
relaxation, recreation, bathing, breathing, and other nor- 
mal and natural conditions of life. Although the body is 
real and by no means is to be underestimated in its im- 
portance, yet the true man, the divine element, is the soul. 
The soul is that which manifests through the flesh. The 
body is the vehicle of expression for the soul. Flesh, un- 
der physical environments, is the only avenue through 
which Soul can attain its divine heritage of Conscious 
Unity v/ith God. 

There are man}^ diseases of the mind which can be 
cured only through the forces of the heart and the soul. 
There are many diseases of the body caused by a diseased 
mind and soul. These, with the help of Nature, can be 
cured only through the efforts of the Soul that has become 
enlightened; 



The ^^^\Y to Life and Immortality 173 

Soul Science denies absolutely that the material part 
of man's being is unreal and that it has no existence. It 
teaches conclusively that the material is as truly real in 
existence as the spirit and the soul, and that it is as truly 
necessary as are the spirit and the soul. It further holds 
that only through the material form is it possible for the 
spirit and the soul of man to manifest. Aye, even more, 
only through the material form of m.an is it possible for 
Cod Himself to manifest. Therefore, man honors God 
not by denouncing the body, but by exalting it; not by 
denying existence of the body, but by raising it to a state 
of perfection. In order to glorify God, man must honor 
body as well as soul. He must make them co-equal in 
development. In other words, the highest development is 
reached when man establishes an ecmilibrium between body 
and soul, the spirit of God being the central or pivotal 
point. 

The general principles of Soul Science have received 
attention elsev/herc. In consideration of the topic, "God 
and Nature, the only physicians," it is fitting to employ a 
lull and detailed illustration of the treatment that an II- 
luminati, or a Soul Science, Healer v.^ould give a sufferer. 
Take, for example, the treatment of a typical case of the 
\\'hite Plague — Consumption — greatest of all scourges. 

First, consider the cause of this disease. In the main, 
the Illuminati agree with scientists who have given careful 
investigation to the cause of this dread affliction. Con- 
siimption is a disease that forms waste, or pus matter, at 
the expense of healthy tissues, even feeding upon healthy 
tissues to form pus. The formation of pus is accom- 
plished through a state of congestion. Herein is found 
both the cause and the basis of cure. 

Congestion results from a stoppage in the normal pro- 
cesses of elimination. The principle of a congested state 
finds natural illustration in a sewerage system. So long; 
cis the sewer is kept open the waste flows freely. But, 



174 The Way to Life and Immortality 

if no attention is given to the passage, and if there is a 
surplus of waste material, a clogged condition, or conges- 
tion, results. Experience shows that the effects of a con- 
gested state are in all cases the same. The congestion be- 
comes heated through a state of fermentation. This pro- 
duces morbid matter, which becomes a poison. That which 
takes place in the sewer takes place in man's organism, 
and the results are the same. 

Universally, man eats too much — that is, he takes in 
a greater amount of food than is required by the system. 
Thus, his systeni becomes overloaded and all the functions 
of his organism are oveitaxed in their effort to throw off 
the ill effects of this surplus. This fact — the fact that al- 
most universally man loads his system with an unnecessary 
amount of food — is admitted by practically all scientists 
and physicians. 

Another fact should be noted, that man does not keep 
his system in condition to throw off the surplus material. 
The result is the same as in the case of a congested sewer. 
The unnecessary material is retained in the system. It 
produces an unnatural heat. In some part of the body 
congestion results. Heat intensifies, and the morbid mate- 
rial is turned into pus. This affects the surrounding tis- 
sues, and disease follov.^s. 

Various diseases result from this condition. The cause 
is the same; but, being in different parts of the body, the 
disease receives different names. According to statistics, 
the most common trouble is consumption. The reason fur 
this is seen in the fact that the waste material most nat- 
lu-ally settles in the lungs. Why? Simply because the 
blood carrying food material passes through the lungs, 
where, according to Nature's purpose, it is supposed to 
be charged with new life, and health-inspiring properties. 
But, unlike all other animals, man, as a rule, does not 
breathe properly. Being an artificial breather, and not 
jtaking in a sufficient amount of vivifying and purifying 



The \\''ay to Life and Immortality 175 

air, he is not able to throw off the poison resulting from 
a;i accumulation of waste material. Consequently, it 
settles in the lungs and bronchial tubes, and the result is 
tuberculosis. 

Having given brief consideration to the cause, it re- 
mains to consider the cure of this dread disease. 

In the first place^ this is a disease of the body ; but it 
has been brought on either through ignorance of nature's 
laws or through deliberate violation of them. Being a 
physical derangement primarily, it is only natural to draw 
the inference that Nature alone can effect a cure, and 
that the mind and the soul are of little consequence in 
treating this dift"iculty. 

Such an inference, however, is erroneous in the ex- 
treme, for the reason that consumption is distinctively a 
negative disease, and is accompanied by a negative, inert 
state of mind. Notwithstanding the fact that the average 
consumptive believes he wuU eventually be restored to 
health and strength, he is disinclined to put forth the least 
effort to regain health and strength. The average con- 
sumptive is particularly affected by a disinclination, an un- 
A''illingness, or even an aversion, to doing the things that 
are conducive to improvement of health. Activity and ex- 
ercise, so much needed in order to stimulate expansive 
power in the lungs, are distasteful. In some cases, air, 
light, and sunshine — Nature's prime restoring agencies — 
seem to irritate and annoy. Lethargy, indifference and 
sluggishness are prominent traits, and stomp the disease as 
particularly negative in its symptoms. Consequently, in 
the treatment of this disease, Nature must be supplemented 
by both mind and soul. 

It is important to arouse and to stimulate the patient's 
iinnd, heart, and soul. He must be convinced that mind, 
heart, and soul are indispensable factors in healing. He 
must realize that man is created in the image of God, the 
Pather, and that he honors and glorifies his Maker by 



173 The Way to Life and Immortality 

perfecting the divine image in which he is created. He 
must reahze that, by allowing the image of God to be- 
come disease-racked, he is dishonoring the Creator, and 
that, in so doing, he is committing a sin as truh^ as if he 
were deliberately violating a moral or a lega'. code. The 
patient's moral and spiritual sense of responsibility must 
be aroused. He must see and understand that illness is 
actual sin, or the result of actual sin. To disobey a law 
of health is as grievous as any other form of unrighteous- 
ness. As he is responsible for having disregarded the 
laws of health, so now it is his duty to restore conditions 
of health, and to live in harmony with nature's laws. 

It is well for the patient to knov/ that violation of 
nature's laws in regard to health is a form of unrighteous- 
ness. But it may be wise to impress on his mind the 
positive statements of the principle, and to emphasize the 
desirability of righteousness rather than the undesirability 
of error, sin, and unrighteousness. Let him see that faith- 
ful observance of the laws of health is as truly a form of 
righteousness as is observance of the moral decalogue. Es- 
pecially if the sufferer is religiously inclined he should be 
led to see that righteousness includes observance of hy- 
gienic laws, including such homely items as correct habits 
in regard to diet, sleep, exercise, work, recreation, bath- 
ing, and breathing. 

In arousing the sufferer's mind to a realization of re- 
sponsibility, emphasis should be placed on the thought of 
privilege, and on the desirability and the possibility of 
health, strength, and vigor. Caution should be taken to 
prevent him from settling into morbid reflection on the 
error of his ways. Cause of illness should instantly take 
the turn of rectifying illness. The only reason for a 
patient's knowing the cause of illness is to enable him to 
remove the cause. He must understand that reversing 
conditions and removing causes are the only rational means 
pf restoring health and streng'th. Ambition must be 



The Way to Life and Immortality 177 

quickened. Faith in the possibihty of health and strength 
must be intensified. Interest in a worthy work or cause ; 
the consciousness of being valuable to family, neighbors, 
and friends ; the desire to accomplish a cherished pur- 
pose; activities which absorb his attention and interest, 
and which take his thought away from petty sympltoms — 
these are items which enable mind and soul to cooperate 
with nature's healing agencies. 

The principles and the arguments of Soul Science can 
be used to good advantage in stimulating mind and soul 
of the patient to normal activity. He should be convinced 
that it is not the divine purpose for man to suffer and die, 
but that it is according to the plan of the Infinite for him 
to live a useful life avd thus to glorify his Maker. A rea- 
sonable amount of the Illuminati series of literature may 
be placed in his hands. 

At the same time tha't the mind and the soul are be- 
ing fed and aroused to activity the physician or healer 
must give careful attention to the physical being of the suf- 
ferer. 

First in impoi^tance is it to free his organism of the 
congestion, the decayed food material that is stored up in 
his system. This is accomplished by two methods, which 
should be followed at the same time. The first mdthod 
is through the medium of daily warm baths, both external 
and internal; the second is through cutting down the al- 
lowance of food, not eating so often nor so much, and giv- 
ing special attention to the quality of food and 'the proper 
combination of foods. 

Under this treatment, two full meals a day or three 
light meals are sufficient. The morning meal should be 
light, but of the most nourishing material. Take barley 
that is not pearled to the amount of a cup full, pour over it 
two cups of cold water. Let it stand over night. In the 
morning, this should be stirred up thoroughly so as to 
release from the barley the natural salts. Then pour the 



178 The Way to Life and Immortality 

water off, to this add the whites of two eggs thoroughly 
beaten, and add a little cream. This is sufficient for 
breakfast. Nothing more should be eaten until noon in 
order that the patient may become thoroughly hungry. 

The noon meal should consist of a good combination 
of three classes of foods : first, a foundation, or a vitalizing 
and nourishing food, as, barley, beans, peas, v/heat, lentils ; 
second, a cleansing cooked vegetable, as, turnips, parsnips, 
spinach, tomatoes; third, a stimulating, appetizing, uncook- 
ed vegetable, as, lettuce, celery, olives. Whole wheat bread 
is to be used in addition to other foods. 

Barley for the noon meal should be soaked before be- 
ing cooked. It should be well boiled. A dressing for it 
can be made of cream, with the white of eggs, and some 
good fat, such as, olive oil, butter, or peanut oil. This may 
be made according to the taste of the patient. Vegetables 
and grains should be thoroughly cooked, in fact, so thor- 
oughly that they form a sort of puree. 

This general outline of combinations admits of good 
variety so that the one following the treatment need not 
tire of any article of food. Frequently changes may be 
made. Yet the three classes of foods should be represent- 
ed at each meal. The nourishing or vitalizing product 
should be chosen as a foundation for the meal, then a 
cooked vegetable of cleansing and eliminating value accord- 
ing to taste. Lettuce, celery, or olives, as an appetizing 
and stimulating food, have qualities that are highly bene- 
ficial. Of the vegetables, spinach should be used most 
frequently because it contains vegetable salts required by 
the system. 

White bread should not be used, nor should white 
potatoes form a part of the menu. These are forbidden 
because they clog the system with unnecessary starchy 
material. They are like vampires to the organic lime in 
the organism, of which the starved and depleted system 
of the consumptive is in particular need. 



The Way to Life and Immortality 179 

A word in regard to meat. The Illuminati do not 
endorse a meat diet. Nevertheless, they are not so radical 
and so unreasonable as to expect men, especially the af- 
flicted, to give up meat all at once. Nor do they consider 
it wisdom for a person to make a sudden, abrupt change 
in a habit of long standing. It is to be noted that nature's 
clianges are slow and gradual. Man should learn from 
nature and from his Creator. Seeing that nature's ways 
are processes of time, it is well for man to follow the 
example of nature in this respect. Taking men as they 
are, and seeing that the vast majority are meat eaters, 
the Illuminati advocate gradual changes toward the non- 
meat diet. In the process of change from one system of 
living to another, especially in the case of a patient, the 
Illuminati fortid the meats that are the most harmful 
and allow the use of the least harmful. Therefore, they 
recommend that the patient use only mutton and fov/l, 
and that the barley, beans, or peas be cooked with the 
meat. In this way, the meat need not be eaten, as, through 
the process of cooking, the essence is extracted from the 
meat, and is in the soup and absorbed by the vegetable. 
That vv^hich remains of the meat, if eaten, would only tax 
the system, would be of no benefit, and would increase con- 
gestion. 

In the evening, the patient should be allowed only 
barley water and the whites of eggs, with some whole 
wheat bread, only in an amount sufficient to satisfy, but 
not enough to congest the system. Never, under any cir- 
cumstances, should the patient retire soon after a full 
meal. The evening meal should be so arranged that the 
food is thoroughly digested before it is time to retire. 
Then, just before retiring, the juice of grape fruit, apple, 
or pine apple may be taken. The fruit should be thor- 
oughly masticated, and the pulp rejected, only the juice 
being sv/allowed. 

In order to effect a cure, it is important for the patient 



180 The Way to Life and Immortality 

to be exceedingly hungry at meal time; but he should eat 
only enough to satisfy. Between meals fruits should be 
taken, such as apples, pine apples, grape fruit, ahd other 
desirable fruits. Water may be used freely and at any 
time except with meals. Fruit juices, however, are better 
than water for the reason that they contain the salts that 
arc required by the debilitated system. 

The one who is physically impaired, whether from 
consumption, cancer, nerve exhaustion, or any other 
chronic ailment, will find it an excellent plan to eat stewed 
apples before retiring. These contain every salt required 
by the system. The apples should be carefully selected 
and prepared. They should not be peeled, nor should the 
core be removed; for in the skin there is a valuable salt, 
and in the core there is an active bitter principle which is 
of great value. The apple should be quartered so as to 
allow examination of it, and any undesirable part may 
be removed. ■ They should be cooked, without sugar, until 
they are very soft, forming a thick pulp or jelly. 

When cool they are ready to serve. This is not only 
a tasty but a most valuable food. It is not supposed that 
the core or the skin are to be swallowed, but simply 
chewed so as to extract the food value, only the juice and 
pure pulp being swallowed. Contrary to popular opinion, 
apples served in this manner are not bitter and disagree- 
able, but are really delicious when properly prepared. It 
is well for all, whether physically impaired or not, to 
make frequent use of apples prepared in this manner. 

It is a mistake to serve apples with sugar and cream. 
Sugar robs them of the natural lime, while the cream 
makes a combination that can be digested only by the 
strongest stomach. 

Regulation of diet is only one means by which nature 
effects a cure, and it is imperative that the: patient shall 
be active and zealous in promoting such conditions as 
shall enable nature to perfect her work of healing. If the 



The Way to Life and Immortality 181 

patient is careless and indifferent in regard to hygienic 
requirements, if he follows the healer's advice with irreg- 
ularity, indulging his own whims at will, he can expect 
nothing but irregularity and unsatisfactory progress. For 
this reason a disease of negative type demands firm co- 
operation of the patient with natural means of healing. 
Heart, mind, soul, and body must be co-partners with God 
and Nature. It is easy to say that God and Nature are 
the only true healers. As an unqualified statement, it may 
seem to be an easy philosophy that declares God and Na- 
ture to be the only healers. Yet faith, courage, firmness, 
patience, and perseverance are required on man's part to 
enable him to make such conditions that God and Nature 
can perfect their work. Patient as well as physician must 
work in harmony with God and Nature. The Illuminati 
physician is supposed to have given time and attention to 
the study of Nature's lav.'s and ways. He has formulated 
natural methods of treatment. The patient is responsible 
for faithfulness in observing the requirements of a nat- 
ural system of treatment. 

Equally important with the question of diet is that 
of breathing. The patient must be led to see the impor- 
tance of full, deep breathing. It is well for him to fol- 
low exercises which require him to breathe in harmony 
with Sacred Mantrams. This practice insures rhythmical 
as well as deep breathing. Particularly one whose lungs 
are affected should cultivate habits of correct breathing 
in order to throw out the poison from his system. Other- 
wise, the state of congestion continues. 

Habits in regard to sleeping are also of importance. 
Ihe patient should have eight hours of sleep in a room in 
v.-hich there is plenty of fresh air. The windows should 
l>e open night as well as day, in winter as well as in 
summer. 

A natural system of treatment of disease gives at- 
tention to exercise, as an essential to health and vigor. 



182 Tne Way to Life and iMMOiTALiT-? 

Outdoor exercise is best. Walking is advisable. Horse- 
back riding is particularly good. Often it is only by sheer 
force that the patient can be induced to take any kind of 
wholesome exercise. For this reason a philosophy that 
arouses and stimulates a fondness for activity is of in- 
calculable benefit. The real self, the true being, the Im- 
mortal part of his nature, should be quickened to con- 
sciousness and to activity. This will stimulate an inclina- 
tion to put forth effort, it will arouse fondness for whole- 
some exertion. It will make industry and employment 
attractive, and counteract the tendency to lethargy and 
sluggishness which is a noticeable trait of those who suffer 
from an affliction of the lungs. 

If the patient is faithful to natural methods of treat- 
ment as regards food, drink, sleep, work, exercise, rest, 
recreation; if he makes constant friends of light, air, and 
sunshine; if he cultivates wholesome habits of thought, 
and eliminates from his mind every type of bitterness and 
envy — ^there is no reason why God and Nature should not 
effect in him a perfect cure. It is not too much to claim 
that every case of consumption, if treated according to 
these principles, may be cured unless the disease has so 
ravaged the system that there is no chance for freeing it 
from the congestion. This claim may seem extreme. Nev- 
ertheless, it is not greater than the truth. It seems ex- 
treme only because the treatment has not been generally 
accepted. 

Another disease that is causing great ravages among 
mankind is cancer. Like consumption, cancer is a nega- 
tive condition. Both the cause and the method of cure 
are, in general, similar to those outlined for consumption. 
The congested condition that causes cancer settles in other 
parts of the body and the manner of destruction is differ- 
ent; consequently, it receives a different name. ) 

Treatment of disease according to natural means may 
^eem crude to the radical seeker after mysticism who be- 



The Way to Life and Immortality 183 

lieves the mind is all-sufficient, and that faith alone is 
necessary for the cure of disease. But the rational, well- 
balanced mind will recognize that natural means combined 
with a reasonable faith in God and Nature is the true 
method. It gives due credit to power of mind and soul. 
It recognizes both God and Nature, both divine and hu- 
man agencies, both spirit and matter. It is based on the 
philosophy that God and Nature are the true healers. But 
it points out the way by which man may cooperate with 
God and Nature, and thus make it possible for them to 
perfect their office as healers of men. 



1S4 The Way to Tjfe axd TM^roRTAtitv 



CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 

TO THE BODY, NATURE IS THE PHYSICIAN. 

In this connection, Nature includes air, food, drink, 
exercise and recreation, baths for cleanHness and rejuvena- 
tion of the body, sunshine, and all those things which sus- 
tain the life of the body, and which give health, strength, 
and vitality to the physical man. 

Strange as it may seem, there are some called mystics 
and metaphysicians who, though denying that the physi- 
cal or material man has real existence, admit that food, 
drink, and air are necessary to the body. Yet these same 
metaphysicians fail to recognize that the quality of food 
and drink has anything to do with the welfare of the 
body. That it is possible for such a belief to have place 
in the minds of men, even the highly educated, is to be 
explained in the fact that the race mind has accepted an 
inconsistent religion or none at all. The averaere mind has 
not been willing to think, to investigate, or to analyze -for 
itself. 

But the time is now here when man will no longer 
bow down to a philosophy or a religion merely because a 
teacher of prominence promulgates it. He demands a re- 
ligion or a philosophy that will stand the test of reason 
and analysis, one that recognizes Nature as well as God, 
one that considers Nature and God as co-workers, co- 
creators, life-givers on an equality with each other. The 
Illuminati maintain that Nature is the spouse, the hand- 
maid of God, equally important Vv^ith Him, because all 
laws work in unity, yet only through duality. On the 
human plane, body and soul hold a similar relationship 



183 The Way to Life and Immortality 

with each other, each being equally necessary, equally im- 
portant to man. In regard to the body, Nature must be 
consulted and obeyed. God is the physician to the soul, 
often to the body as well. Nature's laws, however, in the 
healing of mind and soul, must be honored and obeyed. 
Nature and God work in unison. 

In their Soul Science instructions, the Illuminati rec- 
ognize that there is in reality only one disease ; but, like 
all things else in nature, this disease manifests itself in 
various ways. This one ill, this one affliction, may be 
either of the mind or of the body. It may be caused 
either by wrong thoughts and desires or by a wrong mode 
of living, through ignorance of nature's laws or through 
wilful violation of them. Or, as indeed is true in most 
cases, it may be due to a complication of physical and 
mental errors. 

The millions are living in ignorance of the principles 
that underlie proper foods and proper combinations of 
foods. Many are better informed in regard to the treat- 
ment of animals and proper nourishment for them than 
they are in regard to the care of their own families. Many 
make a careful study of the conditions that develop live 
stock to the highest point of beauty and perfection ; where- 
hs, in regard to their families, they are content to live ac- 
cording to the custom of their ancestors, regardless of the 
wisdom or the advisability of such custom. 

The blood coursing through the veins of man is his 
life; but blood can be healthful and vitalizing and pure 
only as it is made from proper foods. It is impossible 
to have pure blood unless proper nourishment is taken. 
Noble character of thoughts and desires, no matter hovs^ 
pure and holy and lofty they may be, alone, can not insure 
good pure blood. This the Illuminati teach as a funda- 
mental law — that mental and physical conditions must sup- 
plement each other ; that mind alone is not all-powerful ; 
]that thought alone can not effect perfect physical states. 



The Way to Life and Immortality 187 

Therefore, they contend that food, pure in quality and har- 
monious in combination, is essential to good health. 

More than this, in their teaching in regard to correct 
habits of living, they advocate that there is a proper and 
an improper time for eating. In general, the time for eat- 
ing is indicated by nature's call — the state of hunger. To 
eat when one is not hungry is doing nothing less than 
storing disease in one's system. Nature has so constituted 
man and his organs that there will be no digestive fluids 
in the stomach and the intestines unless he is actually 
hungry. Consequently, without hunger, the system is not 
in condition to make digestion and assimilation possible. 

If food is taken into the stomach when it is not ready 
lo receive food, digestion is delayed. There being heat in 
the stomach, the food becomes heated and may even be- 
come putrid. The result is that the digested food and the 
fxuids to be assimilated, instead of being healthy and full 
of life-giving power, become a poison. Only the resist- 
ing power of the body prevents man from quickly suc- 
cumbing to these toxic poisons. It may be years before 
the body falls in death through their effects ; or. there may 
be years of suffering from various diseases. It is now 
fully recognized that many cases of insanity are due to 
auto-intoxication. Auto-intoxication is simply a poisoning 
of the system through indiscreet habits of eating. It may 
be due to an excess of food, or to an improper combina- 
tion of food, or to an inferior quality of food, or to food 
not adapted to the person's particular need. Under these 
conditions, the material is not digested or assimilated, 
neither is it passed out of the system. This results in the 
manufacture of toxins which are retained in the organism, 
keeping it in a poisoned state. 

Correct habits in regard to diet, however, is only one 
of nature's means of maintaining health and strength. An 
other is in regard to breathing. No one can be healthy 
and strong who does not breathe freely and deeply of pure 



188 The Way to Life and Immortality 

fresh air. It is true that men have Hved many years who 
did not breathe properly; and even those Vv^ho Hve indoors 
almost entirely attain a ripe old a^e. But it is not possible 
to determine how much longer they might have lived had 
they been subject to normal conditions. If man were to 
breathe deeply and properly, and have fresh air at all 
times, it would be possible for him to make use of in- 
ferior foods, even foods that are now a poison to him. 
When the food essences pass through the lungs, the deep 
breathing of pure air would extract the poison from them 
and throw it out of the system. Nevertheless, even though 
this is possible, yet it is by no means advisable to tax the 
lungs with unnecessary work in this way. It is, however, 
a fact worth knov/ing; for most of us are at times so sit- 
uated that we can not avail ourselves of proper foods. Un- 
der temporary conditions of this kind, we need have no 
fear of harmful results if \vq consciously cooperate with 
the lungs in freeing the system of deleterious substances. 
But, since man is ordinarily an artificial breather, elimina- 
tion of poisons is not accomplished by the lungs. Poison- 
ous substances therefore must be eliminated in some other 
way, as, through the skin, the kidneys, or the bowels. 
Otherwise, they remain in the system, disturbing the whole 
being. 

As pure food and pure air are essential to all men in 
the flesh, whether they are the highest mystics or the 
humblest artisans, so is sunshine also necessary. For it is 
through the rays of the sun that man receives vitality, a 
magnetism that makes for life and power just as the sun's 
rays shining on the earth enable it to produce abundantly 
the plants and the herbs required by all living creatures. 
Were it not for the rays of the sun striking the earth and 
having connection with it and charging it with life-power, 
all vegetation would be poisonous. It is a note-worthy 
fact that deadly weeds grow under trees and in dense 
forests where the rays of the sun do not penetrate. That 



The Vvay to Life and Immortality 189' 

'sunsliine is essential to physical v;elfare is recognized by 
practically every Sanitarium. Sun parlors afford the pa- 
tient opportunity for basking in the sun's rays and be- 
coming charged with new life and vigor. 

Sleep is another of nature's means of promoting 
health and vigor. For centuries, it has been taken for 
granted that the strength of man is derived from the food 
that he eats; but this is no longer regarded as an' exact 
statement of truth. Men have overlooked the importance 
of sleep in its bearing on strength and vitality. Food, like 
fire in the engine, produces heat and motive power ; but 
the pov/er is secured from the water in the engine which 
becomes heated and generates steam. Thus, the food that 
is eaten, by creating the proper heat, is simply the means 
of furnishing the pov/er. During sleep, when assimilation 
takes place, and when fresh pure air is breathed in, the 
body receives the strength and the pov/er that gives life 
and vigor. Thus, sleep is an essential to health, strength, 
and vitality. 

Nevertheless, perfect relaxation and wholesome sleep 
are dependent upon other conditions, particularly upon 
dietary discretion and upon an abundance of pure fresh 
air. There can be no health-inspiring sleep if digestion 
is not normal. When there is an assimilation of toxins 
instead of life-giving material, sleep is not perfect. If 
there is lack of pure fresh air in the sleeping chamber 
natural combustion is interfered with. AVhen there are 
no drafts in the stove the fires die out. There should be 
an abundant circulation of pure fresh air in the human 
organism to insure the fires that aid in assimilation and in 
the storing up of vitality. 

Dietary indiscretion is not the only cause of illness, 
nor is restoration to normal dietary conditions the only 
means of regaining health and efficiency. Dietary discre- 
tion, an abundant supply of pure fresh air, v/holesome 
sleep, frequent access to the genial rays of the sun, nor- 



190 The Way to Life and Immortality 

mal exercise and activity — all are essentials to physical 
and mental health and efficiency. Yet, neither one alone 
is sufficient. A rational, harmonious combination of all 
these items, hovv^ever, will work wonders in establishing 
health and strength. Then, combine with these measures, 
the power of wholesome, constructive, optimistic thought- 
habits and the power of a masterful will, and you have a 
rational system of living. All these conditions should be 
observed by the natural man. Nor is it at all difficult to 
do so, thoup^h it may seem difficult to those who have lived 
unnaturally, lo, these many years. 

It is no more difficult to have the proper food for 
breakfast than to have unnatural foods. Nor is it more 
difficult to prepare them. Nor indeed is it more expensive. 
However, if man observes the natural laws he will eat but 
little in the morning. His morning meal will consist of 
the juices of fruits, or the waters of barley or wheat, or 
other liquid foods in which are found the natural salts — 
givers of life. 

It is not nature's plan that man should partake of 
heavy food before working. This is indicated bv the fact 
that man is not actually hungry on first arising in the morn- 
ing. It is admitted that he may have a desire for food, that 
he may have an appetite, early in the morning. But desires 
and appetite are not from nature but from custom. No 
one in a normal condition has actual hunger on first aris- 
ing in the morning. In this fact is the proof that it is 
not natural for one to eat at that time. Yet it is found 
that, unless one is entirely morbid or in a state of ill-health, 
one does have a natural thirst soon after arising. This is 
an indication that one needs some liquid — either pure 
water or fruit juices or waters that contain the life-giving 
salts of grains. By partaking of a simple, wholesome drink 
cf this nature, man prepares his system for the noon meal. 
,Toward noon, being hungry, which indicates that the di- 
gestive juices are activej he is in good condition for a full 



The V^ay to Life and Immortality. 191 

meal, well-balanced and harmonious in combination. Thus, 
there is no reason why digestioil should not be normal, and 
assimilation perfect, resulting 'in pure blood and a state of 
perfect health. 

Taken as a class, how^ever, men are in a state of poor 
health even though they may not be aware of the fact. 
Often they are not hungry at noon, and make the mis- 
take of eating at the call of desire and appetite rather than 
of hunger. To eat when not hungry may satisfy an ab- 
normal craving, but it also adds poison to the system and 
only gives more fuel for disease to do its destructive work. 

It is hardly possible to lay too much stress on the 
importance of dietary discretion. Practically, the whole of 
life depends on the food one eats. More ills of life are 
due to improper food than mankind dreams of. An ex- 
cess of stimulating food creates a desire for alcoholic 
drinks ; or, it may arouse to an abnormal degree the carnal 
nature, and intensify tendencies toward crim.e and lust. In 
either case, the evil is entirely dependent for its existence 
on the heat that is generated in the body by improper foods. 
Heat thus generated is not normal. It leads to an un- 
natural craving. It may be a craving for strong drink. It 
may be an abnormal passion in the generative system, 
which creates an uncontrolable desire for lustful acts. 
Thus, the twin evils — drunkenness and tariff in white 
slaves — are traceable chiefly to dietary indiscretion. One 
will exist as long as the other. And neither the one nor 
tlic other will be overcome or can possibly be thoroughly 
o\ercome until man eats according to rational, scientific 
dietary principles. 

When man and woman eat according to reason and 
good judgment, and when they observe other natural laws, 
the heat generated in the system and communicated to the 
brain will be normal. The demands of the body, how- 
ever, w^ill not be destroyed or weakened or impaired. Rath- 
er, as a result of discretion in regard to food, they will be 



192 The Way to Life and Immortality 

natural and trust-worthy and will require only normal rea- 
sonable satisfaction. 

The Illuminati do not deal with results. They aim, in- 
istead, to correct the root of troubles. Social evils, like 
cancer, may be apparently removed while in reality the 
root of the difficulty remains in the organism. So long 
as there is one root remaining in the social body, it is 
liable to grow again; and, like cancer, every new growth 
will be more virulent than former ones. 

For this reason, the Illuminati maintain that neither 
the evils of alcohol nor the evils of prostitution can be re- 
moved through legislative acts. Nor can desires be con- 
trolled by legal enactments or by legislative power in the 
hands of associated physicians, no matter how extensive 
iiiay be their learning. Such evils, all evils, can be removed 
only by giving knov\^ledge to mankind and by removing the 
cause. The cause of evils is twofold — primary and sec- 
ondary. The cause reveals itself in the way man lives, 
in his manner of eating, sleeping, breathing, exercising, 
v/orking. Such things as these determine, to a great ex- 
tent, the character of his thought. 

It is easy to declare that evil originates in the thoughts 
of man, that the origin of sin is in "the imaginations of 
the thoughts of his heart." But a rational adjustment of 
all things demands recognition of the fact that soundness 
of body is necessary to soundness of mind, that it is well- 
nigh impossible for an individual to be actuated by lofty 
aspirations and hopeful views when his physical being is 
disturbed by poisonous accretions or famished for vitaliz- 
ing elements. It is necessary to remove the secondary 
cause as well as the primary. Removing the secondary, and 
making physical conditions as nearly perfect as is possible, 
makes removal of the primary cause comparatively an easy 
matter. That mental and physical must work together, that 
mind and body are supplementary agencies in establishing 
Jiealth and efficiency, that God and Nature are inseparable.. 



The Way to Life and Immortality 193 

■ — this the Illuminati hold as fundamental truths; and on 
it as a foundation they are willing to stand or to fall. 

Is there basis for this doctrine in revealed religion, in 
the Sacred Scriptures? 

There is. Listen to these words, which come in 
thundering tones down the ages: 

"What satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that 
thy youth is renewed like the eagles." 

How many of the vast multitudes that have read these 
words ever gave a thought to their meaning? 

Yet how significant ! How thoroughly in harmony 
with the doctrine of Life and Immortality ! How thor- 
oughly in harmony with the Illuminati doctrine, that "filling 
the mouth with good things" is a requisite of the Immor- 
tality whose "youth is renewed like the eagles !" 

Let us hope that this important passage in the Scrip- 
tures may be more than a dead letter to those who read 
it in the light of Illuminati principles. Let us hope that 
humankind may hasten to accept the truth in its simplicity. 
Let no mystic or metaphysician regard it a materialistic 
doctrine which advocates that the youth of him whose 
mouth the Lord filleth with good things— natural, nutri- 
tious foods — is renewed like the eagles. 

"Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, 
bless his holy name. 

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his 
benefits ; 

"Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all 
thy diseases; 

"Who redeemeth thy life from destruction ; who 
crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies ; 

"Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that 
thy youth is renewed like the eagles." — Ps. 103:1-5. 

These verses, in exalted poetical expression, voice the 
doctrine of Life and Immortality. They honor God as the 
Giver of all good things. They honor man as the recipient 



194 The Way to Life and Immortality 

of all good things, or as the medium through which the 
Infinite functions. These words portray a well-balanced 
philosophy, a philosophy that represents God and man as 
counterparts, each of the other; God and Nature as har- 
monious co-workers; a philosophy that recognizes physi- 
cal means and physical agencies as thoroughly consistent 
with spiritual laws and spiritual graces. 



THE TEACHING OF EUGENICS 

THE STAND TAKEN BY THE ILLUMINATI. 

The question of eugenics and sex hygiene is claiming 
pronounced attention among people generally, especially 
among educators and reformers. It therefore seems ad- 
visable for the Illuminati to make definite statements con- 
cerning their position on the subject. 

Many have gone to great extremes in their ideas con- 
cerning eugenics and the teaching of eugenics. A few 
years ago it was a crime to have anything to say concern- 
ing sex and the part that sex plays in the life of man. To 
such extent was this the case that some who dared to 
speak the truth on this subject were sent to the peniten- 
tiary. Now, the pendulum of public interest has swung to 
the other extreme; and magazines and newspapers are full 
of articles on different phases of this subject as well as 
reports of conventions in which this subjects claims a 
prominent place. Indeed, to such extent is the discussion 
of this subject carried that the young, knowing nothing 
of sex, are led into all kinds of morbid conjecture. 

The Illuminati hold, as they have held for many cen- 
turies, that sex is of the utmost significance, that the ef- 
fects of sex, or the use of sex power, is of paramount im- 
portance. Further, they hold, as they have held in cen- 
turies past, that mankind should be taught fully concern- 
ing sex, that man should be ignorant concerning nothing 
that has to do with sex. 

But, further than this, in the main, the Illuminati do 
not agree with the alarmists of the present day. The ex- 
perience of those who are strenuously advocating the 
teaching of sex hygiene covers at best but a few )^ears. 
^'^^hereas, the experience of the Illuminati dates back 
through centuries. For centuries the teachers of the Il- 
luminati have been giving instructions to their followers 



196 Tpie Way to Life and Immortalitx 

concerning the mysteries of sex. Proof of this fact is to 
be found in their Hteratiire. Their teaching has been con- 
demned. Their teachers and writers have been persecuted 
because they dared to teach the truth. Nevertheless, thous- 
ands who came to the Illuminati for instruction and advice 
have been saved from ignorance, error, and sin. During 
/the centuries, thousands have reaped blessings untold by 
following the principles of sex hygiene as advocated by 
the Illuminati. 

And now, after many of that noble band have been 
made to suffer for teaching privately and quietly, under 
the most sacred and protected conditions, the laws of sex- 
ual science, advocates of sex hygiene are springing up on 
every hand, making public and prominent their plea for 
instruction on sex purity. To make the matter more de- 
plorable, these would-be educators and reformers have 
given the science of sex little careful study. They have 
no practical knowledge of the principles involved. Nor do 
they have 'the slightest insight into the deeper phases of 
sex philosophy and its bearing on the higher culture of 
the human race. Nevertheless, they are bold in advocating 
measures which men of the Illuminati, after a lifetime of 
experience, would nott dream of advocating. To make the 
contrast greater, the Illuminati teachers of past years, 
who reaped persecution, gave their lifetime to the study 
of this subject in all its phases. Their investigations re- 
sulted in the discovery of a mighty secret, which they hint- 
ed at and offered to explain to all worthy seekers after 
truth. But public opinion was not then ready to listen 
even to the barest suggestion along this line of thought. 
Fiut now, under a sudden glow of enthusiasm, men of in- 
experience are advocating methods and systems which 
^^ould result in ruin a thousand times greater than that 
v/hich followed centuries of ignorance. 

While the Illuminati hold, and always have held, that 
instruction should be given in eugenics and sexual hy- 
giene, and that such instruction is of the utmost import- 
ance, and that upon purity of sex rests the foundation of 
existence, yet they emphatically condemn, noit only as 
useless but even as a menace to humanity, the teaching of 
sexual hygiene in the public schools, 



The Way to Life and Immortality 197 

Public opinion must be educated, to be sure. The 
race consciousness must be cleansed of its abnormal, mor- 
bid, and unhealthful ideas and conjectures. The race con- 
science must be stimulated to higher ideals and purer mo- 
tives. There is urgent need of correct instruction. Knowl- 
edge, not ignorance, sets men free. Thus far the Illuminati 
agree with the advocates of sexual hygiene. But that the 
public school is the place for instruction in sexual laws 
is a measure which the Illuminati positively discourage. 
Educators in eugenics and sexual hygiene should be men 
and women who are qualified by nature and by careful 
training for imparting instruction in this especial sub- 
ject. Parents are the ones in particular to whom such 
instruction should be given. The father should under- 
stand his own creative system, the laws of use and non- 
use of creative power. He should understand what sub- 
jects are wholesome to teach his sons and at what age 
they should be taught. The mother, likewise, should un- 
derstand those things wdiicli concern her creative being 
and her creative power. She should know when and hov^ 
to communicate true knowledge and ideas of purity and 
nobility to her daughters. 

That children and young people as well as parents 
should receive instruction — in this, too, the Illuminati 
agree with the advocates of sexual hygiene. But that this 
instruction should be imparted in schools and colleges, 
in Ithis, the Illuminati unreservedly disagree. No man 
teacher is competent to teach these subjects to boys and 
girls under conditions which classroom and lecture-hall 
ir.ake necessary. Nor is there a young woman teacher 
competent !to handle this subject before boys of tender 
years, much less, boys at the age of adolescence. These 
statements may seem at first thought to be radical and 
extreme beyond reason. But careful consideration of the 
conditions under which teachers must work will convince 
any candid investigator of the truth and the wisdom of 
these assertions. 

The instructions given to parents and those who fill 
the place of parents should in particular emphasize the 
necessit}^ of imparting wholesom.e information to the chil- 
dren under their care. In this way, rather than in -the 
classroom^ children should receive the instruction neces- 



198 The Way to Life and iMMORfALiT-s? 

sary to make them noble men and women. Faddists on 
sexual education will answer this argument by saying that 
the parents do not have the necessary knowledge and 
training themselves, and are therefore not qualified to do 
this. It is freely admitted that the majority are not quali- 
fied to do this as they should. But how superior is the 
qualification of the majority of teachers in the public 
schools? 

Again it is fully recognized by the Illuminati that 
education of public opinion in this line as in all other 
hnes is a question of time, and that conspicuous results 
are not to be expected on shorit notice. Growth and change 
in the race thought is at best slow. Transformation of 
character lies at the basis of growth. One necessary fea- 
ture in the transformation of character is a practical ap- 
plicaJtion of the laws of eugenics and sexual poweT, ex- 
tending through successive generations. Parents must un- 
derstand hygiene and psychologic laws which will en- 
able them to procreate better and nobler specimens of 
humanity, children strong in body, mind, and soul. Each 
generation should be superior to the preceding. Thus, 
changes and improvements come about gradually, perhaps 
almost imperceptibly, nevertheless surely. 

What is to be said concerning laws to regulate 'these 
rr.iatters ? 

The Illuminati maintain that legislative acts will con- 
fer no benefit on the race. No matter whether the laws 
have to do with compulsory education in the schoolroom 
on the science of sex or whether they aim at the regula- 
tion of marriages, little or no advantage is to be expected 
from them. The reasons for this conclusion are of the 
bes!t. Nobi'lity and health of offspring are to be ac- 
counted for on the basis of love and harmony between 
the parents and a genuine love for the child that is to 
be. This, no legislative measure can determine or insure. 

It is a fact well known to those who have given 
serious study to conditions which tend to better the race 
that it is not always the physically perfect father and 
mother which rear superior children, children strong in 
body, mJnd, and soul. More often, children healthy in 
body, strong in mind, and lofty in aspiration — aye, even 
geniuses, men and women who accomplish — are born to 



The Way to Life and Immortalitv 199 

parents who, though possibly physically inferior, possess 
lofty desires, clean minds, and liiost of all, love for the 
forthcoming offspring. Men and women of the so-called 
"upper classes," although seemingly healthy in body, but 
desiring no children, and being in a bitter state of mind, 
even in a continued state of condemnation of that which 
is to be — these are the ones who bring forth children in- 
fcvior in body and mind, and almost bereft of soul. 

Through long experience, the Illuminati have observ- 
ed that the father and the mother who care for each other 
and who desire offspring and look forward to the event 
V ith pleasure, bring forth children healthy in body and 
in mind, children whose souls are not warped by bitter- 
ness — and that too even though 'the parents may be im- 
paired in physical health. Patent to all who have given 
the subject careful investigation is this observation, ;that 
even where both parents are seemingly in perfect mental 
and physical health, if offspring is undesired, the child 
will be inferior in every respect, possibly even a degener- 
ate, 

Whait, then, is the secret of bringing forth a race that 
is healthy in mind, body, and soul? 

The Illuminati hold, and without successful contra- 
diction, that, in order to accomplish this much desired ob- 
ject, it is necessary for parents in all walks of life, the 
low-born as well as 'the high-born, to receive instruction 
in regard to all phases of self-improvement and race-im- 
provement. Race-improvement comes from improvement 
of individual conditions. Laws of health and hygiene 
must receive general attention. Parents must acquaint 
themselves with food values and food combinations. They 
must select and combine foods from the standpoint of 
tiieir nourishing, and eliminating properties rather than 
from the standpoint of taste alone. Exercise, sleep, out- 
door recreation, baths for cleanliness and for rejuvena- 
tion, proper clothing, wholesome thought environments — 
these and other factors which pertain to self-improve - 
nient must receive their due share of attention. People 
generally must become informed in regard to matters of 
health in body and in mind. A true system of sexual hy- 
giene must be adopted and applied. Parents must give 
thoughtful consideration to the duty of instructing their 



1200 The Way to Life and Immortality 

children at the proper age in the science of sex. But, 
first and last, most important of all, it must become a part 
of the race consciousness to realize that there can be no 
healthy offspring where no offspring is desired. 

The Illuminati hold it as a general principle — a princi- 
ple Ithat cannot be controverted — that one absolutely es- 
sential requisite to the birth of healthy, noble children is 
love and harmony between the parents. Yet, important 
as this factor is, it is not to be thought of as the only 
requisite for promoting the welfare of the race. Economic 
conditions must undergo renovation before we can ex- 
pect normal, healthful birth and rearing of children. By 
no means is it true Ithat the greatest menace to human- 
kind at the present time is ignorance of sexual hygiene 
and eugenics. The greatest menace to society, and one 
which is ithe hardest to overcome, is that state of affairs 
in the economic world which makes it impossible for 
parents to provide proper nourishment for themselves and 
children. Insuft'icient food and improper food are funda- 
mientally accountable for disease and unhappiness and 
crime among the masses where ignorance of sexual hy- 
giene is only a secondary cause. In many cases, abnormal 
and vicious physical appetite is directly traceable to a de- 
ranged condition of the stomach or a congested feverish 
slate of certain organs — all due to insufficiency of vital 
food elements or improper balance of food values. 

By no means rash and unreasonable is it to claim 
that the social problem and the labor question are in- 
separable from each other and that instruction in eugenics 
and sexual science will avail little unless it is supplement- 
ed by improved conditions in the industrial world, which 
will enable parents to provide the necessities of life for 
their families. 

How can healthy, vigorous children be expected when 
the mo>ther, during the time in which she should be pro- 
vided with the best, is limited to a scanty supply of in- 
ferior food and clothing? The Illuminati therefore main- 
tain that legal enactments regulating marriages and com,- 
pelling public schools to give instruction in sexual hy- 
giene and eugenics will be of little avail. You may make 
laws by the scores regulating marriages, you may compel 
jpiU teachers in all schools to teach eugenics and spcual. 



The Way to Life and Immortality 201 

hygiene, you may even teach fathers and mothers what 
to do and what not to do; but, if the economic conditions 
are such that niilHons of fathers and mothers are starv- 
ing while they are rearing a family, you will have deficient 
children, who in turn are forced to bring forth children 
even more deficient. 

In consideration of these cold facts, facto everywhere 
staring us in the face, the Illuminati regard it as mockery 
before God and man for the church, the ministry, and 
well-meaning though unreasonable bodies of men and wom- 
en to clamor for laws regulating marriage and laws 
forcing public instruction on sexual hygiene and eugenics. 
Ihey know not whalt their feverish clamor is doing. They 
are advocating laws which tend to drive boys and girls 
to extreme measures in satisfying curiosity and conjecture 
unnecessarily aroused by the inadequate instruction re- 
ceived, even causing them to become fathers and mothers 
of illegitimate children. And all the while nothing is be- 
ing done to control or to improve economic conditions, 
and the millions go on bearing children, and even the 
iMOther has not food and clothing sufficient for one body, 
much less for two bodies. 

The Illuminati admit that there is grave need of cor- 
rect knowledge regarding sex. This fact can not receive 
too much emphasis. They admit that thousands are ruined 
through ignorance of this subject. But they also recog- 
nize that millions are weaklings and mental imbeciles and 
nervous wrecks on account of actual starvation, starva- 
tion brought about through insuft'icient compensation for 
work. 

If man were simply an animal, then laws might be 
made forcing him not to mate unless he is in a healthy 
physical condition, and when himself strong and healthy 
to mate only with one equally strong and vigorous. Laws 
might then be made to appoint a guardian over him, to 
force him to follow the dictates of the law in all respects. 
In this case, he might be led to breed healthy human 
animals. But, even then, in order to accomplish their 
object, these law-makers would be compelled to provide 
proper food, clothing, shelter, air, sunshine, and other 
necessary hygienic conditions. Such items as these receive 



202 The Way to Life and Immortality 

careful attention on the part of scientific breeders of 
animals. Admittedly, law-makers are not in a position 
to do this in regard to the human species, even if they 
have the discrimination to see that it is necessary or 
advisable to do so. 

Man, however, is not a mere animal, nor do the laws 
that control animal life bind him. In procrealtion, man 
uses something more than the body. He uses mind and 
heart. And, under normal conditions, if the mind is in 
the right attitude, if 'the desires of both heart and mind 
of both father and mother are what they should be, then 
they will bring forth offspring which will astonish the 
advocates of eugenics, even though the body may be im- 
paired in health and strength. It is love between man 
and woman that is the magic key to off'spring Avhich 
shall be efficient, of lofty spirituality, and free from dis- 
ease. 

For this reason, the Church of Illumination takes 
the stand tha't laws regulating marriage are useless, aye 
even productive of the very conditions they are trying to 
avoid. It holds this position in spite of all thai't is being 
said to the contrary by various churches and organiza- 
tions and educators. 

Before there can be a perfect human race mankind 
must be taught the value of hygienic conditions in all de- 
partments of life. Correct habits in regard to food, cloth- 
ing, work, exercise, rest, recreation, sleep, cleanliness of 
both body and mind, must be generally established among 
men. There must be a general understanding among par- 
ents of the laws that pertain to the sexual system; and 
they in turn must impart such knowledge to their children. 
Ivlost of all, economic conditions must be so arranged 
that it v^'ill be impossible for millions of deficient children 
to be born in the poorer sections of our cities and other 
places throughout the world because of an insufficiency 
of food to keep body and soul together. 

What does the Church of Illumination propose to do 
as its part in the work of human redemption? 

It proposes to continue teaching mankind the Divine 
Laws, which pertain to his entire being, which pertain to 
tis relations with other human beings, whether it be as 



The Way to Life and Immortality 203 

husband and father in the home or as worker in the 
employ of others or as one who gives employment to 
others. It proposes in its teachings to lay stress on the 
equal importance of man's threefold nature, physical, 
mental, and spiritual. It proposes to continue teaching that 
a sound mind and a sound body are necessary to each 
other ; that hygienic conditions on the physical plane are 
equally important with psychologic conditions on the men- 
tal plane; that sexual hygiene is an essential, but that it 
is not the only essential, to race improvement. It proposes 
to give a well-rounded, well-balanced education and train- 
ing to those who seek solace and help V'/ithin its temple 
doors. It proposes to guard against abnormal emphasis 
on any one department of life. 

Furthermore, the instruction offered by the Illuminati 
on the subject of sex is not experimental. It is not the 
viork of well-meaning, though abnormally enthusiastic, 
amateurs. It is the result of life-long investigations, the 
result of successful experience through centuries of time. 
The instructions have been tested under varied condi- 
tions in different climes and in different periods of his- 
tory — all with satisfactory results to those who have 
olfcyed the laws in their manifold requirements. The II- 
himinati are prepared to give scientific instruction on the 
varied aspects of this subject, including sexual hygiene, 
eugenics, duty of parents to each other, and duly of par- 
ents to their offspring. But, most important of all, they 
are prepared to teach both to the married and to the 
unmarried the sacrcdness of sex, and the power of sex 
in unfolding the Divine Image in man and woman. There 
is power in sex undreamed of bv the most radical advo- 
cate of eugenics^ — power which concerns not only the 
physical man but the spiritual man as well, power which 
directly and undeniably affects the soul, power which, when 
properly directed, becomes the Way to Life and Immor- 
tality. 

The higher features of sexual science, the features 
that pertain to soul culture, immortality, and rejuvena- 
tion of the entire being, are items of which the multitudes 
little dream. But these deeper truths are the very things 
which the Illuminati have been teaching, are teaching, 
and propose to ccnlinuc tca:hii^g manldnd. 



204 The Way to Life and Immortality 

Moreover, the minister, or the priest, of the Illiiminati 
may not, dare not, officiate in marrying a man and a 
woman who have not received instruction in the various 
departments of sexual science. These instructions are in 
the form of lessons covering no less than forty-eight 
hours all told. They contain the fundamental laws which 
concern the betterment of the race. They are prepared 
specifically for those who contemplate marriage, and are 
given privately to the prospective husband and wife prior 
to the marriage ceremony. Thus, it is evident that the 
Temple of Illuminati is far in advance of other organi- 
zations which aim at race betterment. None can belong 
to it and be in ignorance of the Foundation of Life. 



THE WAY TO GODHOOD 

BE THOU A MAN AND THOU MAYST BE A GOD 

We have stepped from the old life with its teaching's, 
its religions, its philosophies, which have taught men a 
negative and destructive doctrine and thereby have held 
them in bondage and in slavery for many centuries, with 
its teachings of the undesirableness of life, the evil of 
worldly possessions, the destructive effects of natural de- 
sires and passions, the evils of joy and happiness on 
earth. We have left these things behind, and have step- 
ped into the new age, wherein we are taught that manhood 
is the zvay to Godhood, that life is glorious and desirable, 
that happiness and joy is the divine heritage of man, and 
that all men have the right to develop power and strength 
so that they may be a success, so that they may have 
possessions v/hich will give them strength and power, in- 
fluence and desirable things in life, without robbing others 
of these same desirable things. 

BE A MAN AND THOU MAYST BE A GOD 
This is the Divine Command of the New Age. 
Because this one new command includes the Ten Com- 
mandments given by the Lawgiver Moses and even more 
than these, it is to be regarded more important than 
the decalogue. The new book of which this command 
is the theme teaches the new religion-science-philosophy, 
teaches man how to be a man, teaches him how to live so 
that he may have health, strength, and power, so that he 
may possess those things which bring happiness and peace, 
teaches him the right and the desirability of living. The 
book teaches him that happiness on earth is the path to 
happiness in the next world ; for no man can be truly 
happy who is living an evil life. 

"The New Commandment" teaches how to live that 
Manhood shall be the first great stage of growth, and 
that godhood may follow manhood. 

"THE NEW COMMANDMENT" 
is the most optimistic, the most revolutionary, work that 



has ever been issued. It is a work that does not destroy 
rehgion, but teaches the highest and the most subHme 
rehgion known to man. It is a work that teaches the di- 
vineness, the gloriousness, of hfe. It does not teach the 
depravity of one man, and the divinity of another, but 
teaches all men how to become divine. 

"THE NEW COMMANDMENT" 
is the Way to Life. It is more, it is the Way to Strength, 
to all that is desirable, the Way to Immortality. 

New Thought, Mysticism, Higher Thought, have pro- 
duced many noteworthy books, books which have helped 
to show the way to a better life; but there has been no 
book issued that shows the Path, first of all, to Manhood, 
and then to Godhood, as does this book. No man who h 
seeking to solve the riddle of life, and to find the way of 
life, can afford to miss this book. 

CONTENTS 

MANHOOD AND RESPONSIBILITY, THE GOAL. 
In this first chapter it is shown that instead of shirk- 
ing responsibility, we should seek it; that through 
accepting responsibility we gain strength and power, 
the strength and the power to accomplish ; that the 
reason why the multitudes are slaves to the few is 
because they have been shirking responsibility, while 
responsibility has been accepted by the fevv^, who 
have become the masters, and, in many cases, the 
exploiters, of the many. 

HEAVEN, THE STATE OF HAPPINESS, MUST BE 

POUND WHILE ON EARTH. 

Here is shown that the negative doctrine that the 
body is an enemy to the soul, that life is undesirable 
and evil, is a doctrine that is destructive; that, in 
order to find a state of bhss beyond the grave, we 
must fijid it here and now; that life is desirable be- 
cause 'life is an opportunity . 

LIFE IS NOT A DISEASE, AN EVIL FROM WHICH 

TO FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. 

Contrary to the old philosophies and religions which 
teach that the sooner we can gain freedom from life 
on earth the better, "The New Commandment" 
teaches that life is the opportunity to gain strength 
of body and soul; th^t unless we find Manhood first. 



with all its responsibilities, we will never be able to 
find Godhood, or Kinship with the All Father. 

CONSCIOUS INDIMDUALITY, THE GOAL OF 
LIFE. 

We live on this plane of being so that we may, first of 
all, awaken all the dormant physical powers; and 
while we are awakening these we must also awaken 
the Inner Consciousness in order to reach Soul Il- 
lumination, which means Conscious Individuality. 
\\"ithout Conscious Illumination, no man can reach 
Godhood, or Sonship with the Father. 

IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO RENOUNCE THE 

WORLD AND ITS POSSESSIONS. 

Contrary to all negative philosophies of the past, "The 
Nezv Comfnandment" teaches that instead of retarding 
the Soul growth of man, possessions, if rightly gained, 
are a means toward greater growth. By no means 
do they retard the growth of Soul, nor prevent high 
spiritual potency. 

HOPE, THE ELEVATING MAGNET OF LIFE. 

Without hope life is useless ; for hope is the magnet 
that attracts us ever onward and upward. It is the 
incentive to act, the incentive to become. And what 
hope indicates, man has the power to accomplish if 
he accepts a true law of hfe. 

SUPPRESS A NATURAL DESIRE, AND IT BE- 
COMES A VICE. 

The tendency of the teaching of the established church 
has been to suppress natural desires, and to leave 
the impression that these desires are the means of 
leading man astray. As a result of these erroneous 
ideas, we have the multitudes of human derelicts, im- 
beciles, and weaklings ; for a natural desire repressed 
or suppressed, breaks out in a vice as impure bloiod 
manifests in eruptions of the skin. "The New Com- 
mandment" teaches us to change our desires into po- 
tencies for accomplishing great things. 

SLAVERY ALWAYS FOLLOWS WEAKNESS. 

Weakness is the cause of slavery on every plane, 
and in every department of life. Thus, the physically 
weak are the slaves of the physJ<;alIv strong; the 



mentally weak, the slaves of the mentally strong; thq 
ignorant, the slaves of the shrewd. 

NATURAL INSTINCTS, NOT EVIL. 

Our natural instincts, according to ''The New Com- 
mandment" are not evil, but are indicators of our 
strength and are the means of indicating what is 
necessary in order to live a normal life. 

OTHER CHAPTERS ARE 

TO THE WEAK, A DOCTRINE OF WEAKNESS 
SEEMS NATURAL. 

TOTAL DEPRAVITY CAN COME ONLY THROUGH 
A DEPRAVED LIFE. 

V/ITHOUT HEALTH THERE CAN BE NO MAN- 
HOOD, NO MANLINESS. 

RENUNCIATION OF WORLDLY POSSESSIONS, 
NO INDICATION OF EITHER WISDOM OR 
GOODNESS. 

THE DESIRE TO ENJOY IS NOT EVIL. 

SUFFER NOT INJUSTICE TO BE DONE. 

A correct explanation of the Law, "Resist not evil." 

THE DESTRUCTIVE EFFECTS OF NEGATIVE 
TEACHINGS. 

MANHOOD OR DEGENERACY, WHICH? 

"YOUR OWN WILL COME TO YOU" IF YOU 
WORK FOR IT. 

A chapter clearly showing the fallacy of "Your own 
will com.e to you," as generally understood. Some- 
thing every student of New Thought, Occultism, 
Mysticism, Higher Thought, Theosophy, etc., should 
read. 

The book contains 200 pages, printed on fine book 
paper, beautifully bound in cloth, side and back stamped 
in gold. In perfect harrnony with other Illuminati books, 
^'he price is $L25. 

Order at once and begin to live its teachings. 

The Philosophical Publishing Company, 
Allentown, Pa, 



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